Summer's Soul Searching Experiences

A Jack of All Trades

2011-02-16T16:13:00.000-08:00

My job, as a Researcher/Legislative Aide, is to essentially be a "jack of all trades." To walk you through a typical day, today I had:

1. 9:30 AM Department of Mental Health Legislative Breakfast- meeting with community groups and advocates on their budget and legislative priorities, AND eating some yummy breakfast
2. 10:00 AM Joint Ways & Means Hearing- listening to members of the Executive Office (Administration & Finance, Attorney General, Auditor) on their budget projections, strategies for tackling the deficit, and sources of new revenue.
3. 10:30 AM Elder Protective Services Forum- a briefing on the risks facing elder constituents and what services and programs are available for them.
4. 11:00 AM Full Formal session- the House was in session to begin debate on unemployment insurance rates. Unless legislation was enacted, businesses would have paid an additional $282/employee for unemployment insurance. Now the rate will only increase by $62/employee.
5. 12:00 PM Boston Delegation meeting- to elect the new chair of the Boston Delegation and discuss priorities for the new session, including a letter from my boss about Emergency Assistance and the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP).
6. 2:00 PM Department of Conservation and Recreation Matching Funds Announcement- the Owen Nawn Factory in Dudley square was awarded a $10,000 matching grant for historic preservation and a real estate development feasibility study.
7. 3:00 PM Back to my desk and catching up on email, phone calls, and working with the interns!!!

My favourite activities are the research (on the budget and legislation) and working with the young people- because these young people will definitely keep you on your toes! Having conversations about school work, college, boyfriends, girlfriends, pregnancy scares, youth violence, and, occassionally, what's going on in politics, haha.

Every day is Real. Real people. Real problems. And, every now and then, real solutions. And a lot of the issues we end up working on (as far as constituent services are concerned) come to our attention through "active listening." By which I mean, people are just talking and don't realize what they're describing is a problem that can and should be fixed. A lot of the time they're not coming to us for help on that issue- they're there to advocate on something else and are just talking about their personal experience and we're able to say, "that was illegal." "what they told you is incorrect." Etc.

An intelligent, gifted young artist applying for college who finds out his mother never applied for a green card for him, so even though he's grown up here, lived his whole life here, he's "undocumented" and can't apply to college until his status is resolved. Another inquisitive, energetic young man who is in his senior year of high school with a 0.9 GPA and the school is now offering him a deal that if he passes his senior year classes, they'll graduate him! Where was the system the last 12 years?! The last four years? How did they shuffle him from grade to grade that it got to this point??

My job can really drive me crazy sometimes, but it has definitely been one of the most rewarding jobs I've had. I look forward to hearing what the young people are working on, applying for, interested in. And I LOVE that I'm able to bear witness to their successes and share in their excitement.

On an Inspiration Roll

2011-02-14T15:10:00.000-08:00

Today was another good day, inspiring young people. I had a GREAT conversation with one of our interns and it was an affirmation that I AM sending open and supportive vibes. I'm really glad to be able to be there for them- I want them to know that I genuinely care about what's going on in their lives, and I know they must have a lot of other people in their support network, so I'm honoured to be included.

It was advocacy day for the Massachusetts Coalition for Suicide Prevention and I invited the intern to come up and listen. We have a bit of a fight ahead of us in terms of guaranteeing funding for suicide prevention programs, but there was a really good turnout at the event, so here's hoping we can form a strong coalition during the budget.

On the way back, I was asking the intern what she thought of the event and she said, "Well. It's really funny that suicide prevention day is today....I don't know. I feel like I can talk to you. So, this time 6 years ago I tried to commit suicide." Now we were walking through the hallways, so I asked if we could table this until we got back to the office and could talk in private. What we discussed isn't necessarily relevant, but I wanted to stress to her that I WANT to be there for her- if she has questions on work, school, post-grad, love, life, whatever. I want her to feel comfortable talking to me about anything.

So then she asked me how you know if a guy likes you....

I said, OH lord! I wish I knew! Hahahaha.

But I'm very excited about this breakthrough and I look forward to being able to support her as she gets ready to graduate and prepares for the exciting next steps of life after college!!

A Good Day

2011-02-11T14:16:00.000-08:00

Today was a good day. In fact, a fabulous way to wrap up what has been a great week.

We have a young intern who comes in every afternoon for 2-3 hours. He interns through the Roxbury YouthWorks program, the same organization that brought Andrew into our lives. He's a really great kid- incredibly bright and inquisitive, and he has a real passion for the world.

Today we had a FABULOUS conversation about politics, life, college, finishing high school, the Peace Corps, Americorps, etc. I had to try and guide his interests during the conversation, because I don't want him to feel too overwhelmed with the endless opportunities that are available, and because of that, feel disempowered to go after them. So I think I did a good job of just planting some starter ideas in his head.

I really hope he uses some of his time this weekend learning more about them. I'll check in on Monday and, if he hasn't, let him know that you can only dip your toes in the water for so long, eventually you have to take the plunge!

I've Been Working at the State House a YEAR!

2011-02-07T17:04:00.000-08:00

Doesn't time FLY! I can't believe it's been a year!!

And today they had a surprise party for me- yay surprise cake!! It was really funny because Mary told me we were going up to the conference room to start planning the people of colour staffers group we've been talking about- so Ken from the Governor's office came down too. And we walk into the conference room and there's cake and drinks and plates all set up, and I'm like, "uh oh! I guess there's another event in here!" And my friend Emily is in the room too, so then I thought we were having the birthday party that was supposed to be tomorrow, today, so I'm like, "I thought the celebration was tomorrow??" and she says, "Well maybe you should look at the cake!"

And it says, "Happy Anniversary Summer!"

YAY!!

It was very funny because I was really confused and caught off guard, haha! And then all my friends from the building came in- totally awesome!!

I suppose I should offer some reflections on what the year has been like?

Let's see.

Probably the thing I enjoy the most about work is all the AWESOME people I get meet on a daily basis. I really enjoy how every day is different and the work environment is very dynamic.

I enjoy meeting people from the district, people from other offices, and all the young people that we are fortunate to have intern in our office.

This job has been the best introduction to the City of Boston I could have asked for. I was literally launched into it and had to navigate my way around city, state, and federal government and its MANY departments, programs, and services. Not to mention sitting down with a 300+ page budget on my 2nd or 3rd day at work and told to "figure it out and let me know if anything seems wrong."

I now know what to do if you're behind on your electric bill, gas bill, or rent. How to apply for childcare vouchers and food stamps. Where to get free legal services advice. How to set up a sick leave bank so that your coworkers can donate their sick days to you after you've exhausted all yours. Who to call to report abuses to offenders within the prison system.

And on the more interesting side- what to do if you're the homeless son of the late President James Munroe and you're pregnant with your second child and worried about how you'll take care of him, even though Princess Diana said you make beautiful wedding dresses. OR, if your family is descended from the first people of America (who pre-date Native Americans), you're the long lost brother of Mayor Menino, and you're convinced the downtown post office is stealing people's SSNs and using them as a hit list.

I've had people pee in the front office. Expose themselves on the front steps. Tell me they like my earrings because they remind them of when they were young, riding horses and pretending they were Geronimo hunting white people.

I've had mice frolick with reckless abandon in front of my desk as I try and get work done. Scurry across my feet. Eat my cookies. Run across my desk. And just be a general nuisance and definite public health hazard.

I've been privileged to track and work on a bill from practically conception to it becoming law. I was a part of a coordinated struggle with other allies in the building to ensure funding for Aid to Incarcerated Mothers. I've written letters- SO many letters! And I've stayed till 11 pm working on the budget and legislation, because I'm just THAT dedicated!! (Don't feel TOO bad for me, they bring in food during budget week!)

I've been blessed to meet such thoughful and inspiring young people. I've been able to assist them as they develop their plans for college and beyond. I've tried (as best I can) to serve as a mentor for them and to be there to answer ANY questions they have- about school, life, relationships, family, etc. I've watched them develop from having no interest in politics at all, to writing thought-provoking papers on self-designed projects; deciding to run for student council; join a female teen empowerment magazine; apply for nationally competitive scholarships; get accepted for college; the list goes on.

And I've been to funerals. Terrible, heart-wrenching, soul-destroying funerals for people I knew and some I didn't.

We lost our intern, Andrew da Silva Tavares to pointless violence over a piece of jewelry- all that potential and spirit destroyed because someone felt entitled to TAKE what wasn't freely given. I'll never forget one of the last conversations we had was on "Men Against Violence" advocacy day and we were talking about a men's magazine that interrogated this hyper-masculine society we live in and how it destroys not only man's relationship to woman, but also man-to-man friendships and interactions. I said he should take another copy home to share with his friends and he said, "Nah Summer. I can't be seen with this magazine!" Life can be so cruelly ironic sometimes...

And I've sat in a church, experiencing what can only be described as a community longing for catharsis, as we all viewed the bodies of a mother and her 2.5 year old child, laying together in casket. Murdered in what now appears was a drug robbery turned execution. I was surrounded in a room full of people I didn't know, but we were all feeling the same thing, asking the same questions, shedding the same tears, and just praying for mercy from God that he might stop the spate of violence that claimed 72 people (including 16 people under the age of 20).

So, it's been an experience.

I've laughed a lot, I've cried a lot, I've lost my mind, my temper, and, occassionally, my faith in humanity. I've had to say no to a lot of people, but that just makes it all the more special when I'm able to say YES!

I've grown, developed, gotten lost, strayed, and eventually rejoined the path. And I'm always learning- how to balance work and having a life; how to recharge my spirits; how to not stress the little things, OR the big things you don't have control over; how to laugh, because it's SO much better than crying; how to find commonalities with even the most conservative, illiberal people ever; and how to do what I WANT, not what I think other people want me to do (and THAT is definitely still a work in progress).

OK. I think that's all the reflecting I can do right now. Needless to say, I have thoroughly enjoyed every day here- the hilarious, the insane, the good, the bad, the ugly, the tragic, and the horrendous.

So thank you, State House, for a year of some of the most important life lessons!

There's Snow in Boston

2011-02-06T12:13:00.000-08:00

A lot of it.

I've been trying to send photos of all the snow, and my daily treks through it, to this post from my phone, but apparently I'm no good at using smartphone technology. More's the pity.

But back to the snow. there's a lot of it. In fact, they're running out of places to put it and had to get special permission from the Mayor to dump it in the harbour. Yikes!

I have yet to build a snowman or have an epic snowball fight, but I have made a snow angel! Apparently, adults don't like to play in the snow anymore. So everyday on my walk to the train, I look longingly at the little kids sledding down the hills or making snowmen....one of these snow days I WILL join them!

And that's it. I'm back to blogging. And hopefully it will be about more exciting things than snow.

HAPPY CHEESE HOLIDAY!

2009-05-28T09:34:00.000-07:00

!חג שמחה

(that's happy holiday in Hebrew...look at me. Only took 8.5 months to figure out how to make the keyboard switch from English to Hebrew, smile)

Anyway, HAPPY HOLIDAY! Today is Shavuot! I don't quite know what that it is, but you eat dairy to celebrate :) * a quick wiki search tells me that it celebrates God giving Moses the 10 commandments, so there you go. For my part, I am making DELICIOUS moussaka (at least I think it will be delicious, right now it is in the oven).

Things here continue to chug along, and are going really well. I have such a good routine and the weather is PERFECT, its a good life. I went to the beach today, and actually went swimming. My friend taught me to body surf...can't say that I'm that impressed with it, haha. But it was a good day at the beach.

Work is good. Working on grant proposals. Very good learning experience and am getting valuable work experience. Shira is a great resource and a good mentor for learning about organizational development.

On Monday I went to a fundraiser (all you can eat Chili) for an organization my friend volunteers with- Best Buddies. Its an international organization for people with developmental disabilities. it was GREAT!! I helped with setting up and then assigned myself the task of selling raffle tickets- for some reason I thought it was so much fun, haha. Maybe because Israelis don't seem to know about raffle tickets, so I had a good time explaining it to them and hearing their questions. Who knows.

It was a HUGE success! From the evening we raised over 4000 shekels and then a rotary club pledged an additional 12,000 shekels!! So my friend raised over 16,000 shekels for the organization!! (that's about $4000) We went out afterwards to celebrate- bought about 16,000 shekels worth of drinks :) KIDDING!!

It was fun to hang out and catch up with people. But at one point I got stuck talking to this TERRIBLE person. Actually, I didn't talk to him, but I don't think he noticed. Even if I was "talking" to him, he's the type of person who likes the sound of his own voice. I laughed frequently, at him, but again, those type of people never seem to get that they're a JOKE! OH well. I did have to bow to his greater middle eastern experience though- you know, since he had spent many summers in Israel......I told Mom (when I recounted the story) that I prefer to let people suffer in their ignorance and let the fact that I grew up in the Middle east come up at a later date, so that they can then look back and be like, "I'm an idiot." Yes, you are :)

So other than that guy, it was a really fun night! And then Tuesday we all went down to Tel Aviv because my friend (Analise) was getting an award for her volunteer work! This event was insane!! The PRIME MINISTER was there!! (doesn't he have better things to do?) The event is organized by Masa (journey in Hebrew) and brings together all the youth groups etc that are visiting Israel.

So basically it turns into a BIG plug to make Aliyah (move to Israel). That's what Netanyahu spent most of his time saying, although he also said things like "Jerusalem will always be the capital of Israel." "Jerusalem united." Shades of his conversation with Obama.

Then we had a concert from Mosh Ben Ari. It was pretty fun. Except a lot of people just wanted to jump instead of dance, so you almost had to jump as well to save your life. Otherwise elbows came dangerously close to your face....

Afterwards some of us went out to dinner in Tel Aviv. Headed to Rothschild street (you've BEEN there Mom) and had dinner at Moses (a burger place) while we waited for Colette's sister to get in. All in all a fun night!

A Gift of Love

2009-05-18T11:05:00.001-07:00

HELLO WORLD! It's ME!! I have a computer!!

Truth be told, I've had a computer since May 8th, but adjusting to having regular access to the internet took a while. Besides, I've hopefully caught up with a lot of you over skype, gchat, etc.

SO. WHERE to BEGIN! I'll give a quick update on Mom's Easter Visit.

It was AMAZING! We had a really great time, or at least I did. I'm pretty sure Mom had fun too, even if I was always dragging her up hills :) We stayed at this super crowded (and somewhat dingy) hostel down in Jerusalem, right near the Damascus Gate, which was very convenient for all the churchs, etc. I think we visited practically EVERY church and holy site in Jerusalem- the Holy Sepulchre, Church of Dormition, garden of Gethsemane, Via de Dolorosa....For more details, you should ask MOM, she very smartly marked off in the guide book everywhere we went.

We had a LOVELY time learning about the Aramaic people and the Armenians- all the very nice people we met while we were down there seemed to be one or the other. If you ever go to Jerusalem, there's a fantastic restaurant in the Armenian quarter- delicious food.

In addition to holy sites, we walked the ancient walls, did some shopping, and took an adventurous bus to Masada and the Dead Sea. This was around Mom's 3rd day in Israel and was like a crash-course introduction to living in Israel- people swarming to get on the bus, lots of shoving, shouting, stopping and going....but we made it in one piece.

After exploring Masada, we went to the Dead Sea, where I managed (with MUCH effort) to get Mom to float!! Those who know Mom and her inability to float know this was NO easy task. I think she even managed to have fun after awhile, which was great. We went to the Ein Gedi Spa, so we also rubbed mud all over ourselves, took pictures looking like Mud-People, and relaxed in sulfur pools. It was not a bad deal. Had we gotten there earlier, it would have been a REALLY good deal, but it still fun.

After Jerusalem we headed up to Haifa, where I ran Mom's bags up the hill and up the flight of stairs to my apartment. I hope Dad sleeps easier knowing (from Mom) that I live in a fortress- I'm at the top of a steep hill, at the top of the apartment building, and on top of another apartment. Not to mention, I'm very quick.

We did some exploring around Haifa, got some frozen yoghurt, visited the Bahai Gardens, and then spent shabbat down in Tel Aviv. We walked all the way from the Old Port to the Jaffa Port, taking in some sites and shopping along the way.

To round off Mom's trip, we rented a car and went to Nazareth and the Sea of Galilee. Went to the Church of the Anunciation (where the Pope just visited on his trip), Church of the Beatitudes, and Church of the Multiplication of the Loaves and Fishes. Also went to a couple churches in Cana that purport to be where Jesus did his first miracle. It was great fun!

Last big adventure was running around Akko, learning about the Crusaders. It was the last Christian stronghold in the Holy Land when the Crusaders lost Jerusalem in 1292.

Pretty soon (it felt like at least) after Mom arrived it was time to say goodbye and she went to visit the grandparents and Auntie Cheryl- loaded down with all sorts of Dead Sea products :)

What else.....

I had my 23rd birthday. But I have to admit that by the time it came around, I was quite over birthdays....having celebrated when I went home in January, and again when I went to Spain with Ben. Nevertheless, my friends organized a very nice BBQ down on the beach. It was fun and a pleasantly subdued way to bring in another year.

As my time here starts to wind down (I LEAVE JUNE 10th!!), my social calendar seems to be filling up- dinners, parties, birthday celebrations, coffee dates, protests, etc. Isn't that how life works- just as your about to leave, the country decides to show you some fun!

Which brings us to the COMPUTER and the title of this blog. THIS COMPUTER is a gift of LOVE from my internship supervisor SHIRA and her husband Raphael! Raphael works at the Technion and worked on collecting the missing pieces and getting this computer in working order. Then he lugged the thing up ALL those steps (poor guy!!) and helped set up the computer for me!! It was/is such a NICE gesture and has been a BIG help- connecting to the world, skyping, applying to jobs, researching opportunities, etc. It's SO WONDERFUL!! I was ecstatic for DAYS- blasting country radio from my speakers :)

With the computer, I've been able to apply to jobs in Boston. We'll see what happens, although, if I don't hear from these jobs (I applied to about 20), I'm going to take it as a sign that I should take it easy when I get back. I'll still get a job, but doing something less intense (to a degree) like working at my favourite clothing store so that I can get good deals on clothes :)

My first month back in America is pretty packed anyway- I go home to Arizona for a week (MR. BENJAMIN is going to grace us with his presence for a few days), then I go to LA to visit my friend Amanda who is on leave from the Peace Corps, then I have a fellowship event in San Francisco and hopefully will get to connect with some Stanford people and my friend KEVIN is going to be clerking out there! By the time I get back to Boston, it's about the end of June.

I've also been exploring a Masters program that my IIPP fellowship brought to my attention. Its a year program at Suffolk University in Boston and its a Masters in Women's Health. It's comprehensive in that it lets you decide your focus/area of impact- international women, women of colour, women in conflict zones, etc. and also whether you want to develop skills in research, program development, more like nurse practitioner work, etc. So I've been talking to the people at the program and also reaching out to others to get their opinions, feedback etc. I'm really only interested if I can get it fully funded, but I'm hopeful of this, as they've already waived the GRE requirement for me because of my GPA- looks like all that studying for the GRE was for nothing, hahahahhaa.

So I think I'll close here. I'll just finish by saying, I'm as curious to see where I'll end up as I'm sure you all are! :) MUCH LOVE!!

Well...they broke it

2009-04-06T06:00:00.000-07:00

So....I am without a computer. Mom and Dad advised that I don't get a new one in case the animals that masquerade as humans at the airport decide to destroy another one of my things. Which means, I now only have computer access at work or when I go up to the University. Sometimes I think I live in the 19th century- I don't have a computer, I don't have a TV, and I only recently discovered that I have a radio- on my cool cell phone, thank GOD for that. So when I finish work I read or cross-stitch, which is why I try to hang out pretty much EVERY night. :)

Anyway, other than that, I am good. Mom gets here on Thursday, God willing, and then we're down in Jerusalem to celebrate Easter, yay!!

I'll try to keep my blog updated and write emails more regularly, since we no longer have skype or random IM chats to keep in contact.

Much love!

Back from an Amazing Time in Espana!!

2009-04-02T05:58:00.000-07:00

Hola/Shalom!!

As you all should know by now, I'm back in Israel after an AMAZING week with Mr. Benjamin in Spain. Unfortunately, my computer is still touring the world, but that's another story. And as I don't want to get upset/frustrated with the stupidity, inepitude, and borderline racism of Israeli airport security, I'll save it for another time. Just know that it should be on its way back here where, god willing, this new computer cord will be able to charge it.

Anyway, Spain. Beautiful. Ben and I spent the whole time wanting to move there. It took a while for my Spanish to come back- in the beginning I was speaking some weird Arabic, Hebrew, Spanish hybrid that made PERFECT sense to me but no one else. :)

First we went to Tenerife, where we stayed at this very nice hotel. The only downside is it was populated with old germans, but what can you do? Every breakfast was like a little adventure/fashion show as they stared intently at Ben and I. We can't help being so fabulous :)

We did a really good job of seeing most of the island. It was a little bit colder than I expected, so I got frustrated at one point that everything in my suitcase seemed useless, but I managed. We went to the beach down in Los Cristianes, we went pootling around the lovely town of Orotava (where I bought some FABULOUS linens. Omg, MOM, when I was looking in one of the stores, I realized how much some of the napkins/table settings you have are worth, crazy!), we climbed and hiked around el Teide (the tallest mountain in Spain, excuse me! smile), and we had an AMAZINGLY delicious dinner on the waterfront at Los Gigantes. All in all, a glamourous vacation.

Then we headed for a whirlwind two days in Madrid. The first night there we went out for my birthday dinner. We went to this very nice restaurant called Torres Bermejas and watched Flamenco for 3 hours! As I think I've said to a few of you already, it was a little disappointing that some of the tourists were dressed so bummy, but Ben and I, and the other Spaniards who were out for the night, OF COURSE, looked very smart. :) We attempted to walk back to our hotel after the show ended around 1 AM, because it was a beautiful night and, it being Spain, the streets were still very busy. UNFORTUNATELY, we missed our turn somewhere and eventually had to concede defeat and get a cab. :( Oh well.

Next day was pretty jam packed. First we went to this famous little coffee/pastry house on Calle Mayor, where its pretty much standing room only and people go to see and be seen. By this point addicted to cafe con leche, we ordered two, and got some delicious pastries. Thus energized, we headed out for Palacio Real, but along the way stopped off at Plaza Mayor and took some photos. We decided not to go into the Palace, as the line was very long, but wandered around the garden and park nearby. Then we walked to this the Church of the Barefoot Ladies, or some odd name like that. Pretty interesting. And then we walked back to Plaza Mayor and had a yummy tapas lunch. That day Spain was playing Turkey in football, so there were MANY fans on both sides out and about. Thankfully, they were all pretty much civil with one another, although it did seem as though these Spanish guys at the table behind us (who seemed VERY drunk) were being rude to these Turkey fans at another table, who were just trying to have a good time cheering their team. Oh well.

Then we went shopping along Calle Mayor, determined to buy some leather products. Ben got me a VERY nice and fashionable leather bag for my birthday (awww, isn't that nice). I love it and think it suits my personality. :)

After that we headed off to expand our minds! By attending one of the many art musuems there. We didn't go to the Prado (I know, how can you go to Madrid and not go to the Prado?!) because, as it was Saturday, it was a free admission day and Ben thought it would be too crowded. So we went to another one- I think it was called Renfe? Very good. My favourite floor was the ground exhibit because it had more "interesting" art (in my opinion at least) with abstract, and modern, etc. I didn't realize there were MORE floors, but I didn't find them as interesting. I can only look at SO many 16-18th century portraits of old, dead, (and lets face it, mostly white) people for so long. And they had a Dutch art exhibit, which to me looked like a bunch of boats and wharfs....haha, I'm SURE I've offended art aficianados with my opinions, but there you go. :)

By this point the weather had turned on us and it started to get very windy and rainy, so we booked it back to the hotel. I also wasn't feeling well, probably from one of the many foods we ate that day, so Ben, being the champion that he is, went down to the restaurant down the street to get some yummy take away.

Next day we had to catch planes back to Israel/Boston....awwwww. For my birthday Ben also got me the DVD "My Big Fat Greek Wedding," which I LOVE! And two sets of matching earrings and bracelet. As in a pair of earrings that match a bracelet, and another pair of earrings that match a different bracelet- haha, I didn't know how to write that out. :)

Anywho, I think that's all for now! Hopefully you got the email of the facebook album Ben created. I'll try to get the rest of the photos from him so I can put them up on picasa. Much love!!

Sunshine and International Women's Day

2009-03-09T04:19:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone!! HAPPY INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY!!

Well....actually it was yesterday. But as I'm sure you know by now, my computer has died on me, so this was the first opportunity I've had to blog.

Things continue to go REALLY well in Israel. I'm kept pretty busy at work and actually feel like I'm accomplishing things. Basically I send off grant requests to foundations and we've actually had some positive responses. And I feel like I'm helping to increase their efficiency in applying because I keep a spreadsheet of potential donors, rejections, and those we need to follow up with. I think before a lot of things were just disappearing into the abyss so they had to "reinvent the wheel" (to use a popular phrase) every time they geared up for grant applications.

Other than that, it was actually GORGEOUS weather on Friday, so I headed down to the beach to meet some friends. It was so great and warm and beautiful I had to keep from laughing all giddy while on the bus. Later that evening my friends and I went to a Purim party as the rainbow. We had gone shopping down in Hadar earlier in the week and bought 2 meters of fabric in these shiny colours (mine was emerald green). It was pretty funny getting ready because our first ideas of what to do with the fabric were HORRIBLE. But by the time we finished, they actually looked like real dresses. It was quite impressive considering it was $5 of fabric and safety pins. We also bought colour-coordinated jewels and make up to complete our outfits. I drew a vine on my arm and glued on these gems and flowers- very cool.

Then Saturday morning I headed down to Tel Aviv for an International Women's Day rally (with the vine still slightly visible...no one asked me about it though, haha). It was AMAZING! It was great to see so many different people coming together- men, women, children, gay, straight, old, young, Arab, Israeli, Russian, American, etc. etc. There were signs in Arabic, Hebrew, English, Russian. And people ran the entire gambit in terms of dress- from scantily clad to conservative with hijabs. It was really hot, which was kind of hard, but it was fun meeting new people. I met a lot of other activists that are up in Haifa and got their contact info to hang out with them later.

After the rally my friend Analise, her friend Bara, and I went to a cafe to recover from the heat. After drinking cold liquids for about an hour, we went down to the beach to meet one of Analise's friends. Thank goodness by this time it had clouded over and gone grey (although not cold). We chilled there for a while and then went to this GREAT vegetarian restaurant. We were all STARVING by this time and the food was so delicious, it was great.

Then we caught the train back to Haifa, which was good because I was exhausted!

I've been reading the Eragon book series and am now on the last book, Brisingr. It's pretty good. Entertaining in the least. Of course its no Lord of the Rings, but what is?

And I've now gotten into a good routine of work, hanging out, applying to jobs, studying for the GRE, etc. Most days are busy, but not exhausting, which is good.

I feel like whoever designed the GRE followed me around to see how I take tests and then devised an exam to bring me down/destroy me. It's so funny studying for it. But I'm confident I'll work it out. There are a lot of tricks to the test that make it "easier," but while you're still trying to get a grip on the tricks, etc. I feel like you do worse than if you didn't use the tricks. I think it gets slightly worse before it gets really good, though (at least let's hope!).

Ben and I are off to Tenerife in about 10 days, YAY!! I'm excited for the beach and relaxing (I lead such a HARD life, I know, haha).

Housewarmings, etc.

2009-03-02T05:35:00.000-08:00

So I had a very nice housewarming on Thursday evening. I invited my friends from my various activities (with people from the University being the largest group, but still). It was good to see everyone and to hang out. I haven't really done anything that social since I got back. To tell the truth I was kind of exhausted from traveling and reveled in the me/alone time.

Anyway, I bought all sorts of delicious burekas (pastries) and instructed EVERYONE to eat them or they weren't allowed to leave. I've been really good since I got back- not eating these pastries or the chocolate. Its more for health reasons. I've been OBSESSED with whfoods.com and won't eat anything that doesn't benefit my body in some quantifiable way- fiber, vitamins, protein, etc. Plus, I'm now extremely wary of any processed foods...so yeah, no cookies, candies, cakes, etc. here.

Thankfully we had nice weather and were able to hang out on the roof/patio- smoking sheesha (I know...it doesn't seem to mesh with the healthy food, but I can't even begin to explain how my mind works...or doesn't...hahaha) and catching up. It was a little stressful in the beginning, making sure everyone was getting along and had someone to talk to, but then it flowed pretty freely/easily. People were very impressed with the new place and we're ALL looking forward to nicer weather so that we can have more exciting shindigs/parties.

Water, Water Everywhere, Nor Any Drop to Drink

2009-02-22T11:34:00.000-08:00

Well. It has CERTAINLY been a STORMY last few days. Most bizarre weather, flitting back and forth between sunny and monsoon....

This weather made realize something interesting. I can't think where or when I first heard this, but everyone here is subconsciously aware of a water shortage in Israel, so they welcome the rain. Even I've picked up on it. I start to resent the rain and then think, ah, but they need it.

And whenever you try and complain about the crap weather, people tell you how Israel needs the rain because there's a water shortage and they use that to justify why Israel "must" fight with the Palestinians, the Syrians, etc. Its strange how this propaganda has permeated the whole society. Everyone knows it without knowing where they know it from (isn't THAT an interesting sentence? haha).

I was talking to my landlord Amit the other day, asking when he thought the rain would end and laughing that I always feel back complaining about it because people tell me that we need it when he just said, "We don't need it. There is plenty of water. But then what would we fight with the Palestinians about? Or the Syrians? It's all politics."

I thought it was an interesting comment. I don't know how true it is. I have heard the water level in the Galilee gets lower every year. People complain about how agriculture gets water subsidized to an absurd rate that its wasteful. etc. etc. But still, arguing that there is a water shortage, land shortage, resource shortage, etc. would lend credibility to political motives.

The other thing I wanted to comment on today is this Madoff scheme. I was doing a donor search today using this reference that ranks Foundations owned/run by Jewish people by the amount of money they give to Jewish causes. So I look up the foundation, write down the total assets, total giving, and then go to their website to see what they fund and figure out if there's a way they'll fund the Haifa Rape Crisis Center.

Well, today, while doing my search, I'm sorry to say that I came across quite a FEW foundations that 1) are not accepting any grant proposals for this year because of the economic crisis 2) not accepting grant proposals because of the Madoff scheme or 3) (and the worst) are actually CLOSED/OUT of BUSINESS because of the Madoff scheme. It's really sad. Because I could see their assets and giving for the last year and many of these foundations were giving away millions of dollars in funding to NGOs....and those NGOs won't get them any more and people will lose valuable services.

Obviously they talked about this in the news, but still, even when reading it in an article it felt more abstract. And a lot of the time they just focused on celebrity foundations or the celebrity individual and less on the services that the foundation offered/funded. But when you get to see their financial data and see what they HAD been funding....makes you sad. Oh my goodness, it makes you sad.

One Stitch at a Time

2009-02-19T00:28:00.000-08:00

Well my first week back up in Haifa is going well. The weather has been a bit back and forth- some days its sunny, others rainy, and today, I feel like Dorothy and am worried my little house is going to be picked up and whisked away to Munchkinland!!

I went into work this week and my boss and I agreed on a new work schedule. I'll be going in 20 hours a week, since I'm not taking classes any more. I guess the best way to describe my work is development- in the sense of developing the organization. So I do donor searches, create spreadsheets with financial facts of foundations (total assets and total giving, etc.), write grant proposals, create donor powerpoint presentations, and started a newsletter for the organization. It's pretty good. And I'm glad that I have a good relationship with my boss, so there is a mentoring element as well.

There's a really awesome feminist library in the building, which will really help me with my independent research. Basically before June I have to come up with some sort of deliverable from my time here. I may start setting up interviews with activists in the building and asking them how they got started etc....but I'm having trouble conceptualizing how all their statements will tie together into a greater theme....Any ideas, input, etc. would be MUCH appreciated! Just think about what sorts of things YOU would want to know and send them to me- sometimes I get a little too caught up and don't always realize that most people are on an introductory level...hmmm, I feel like I'm on to something here. :)

Other than that, I have taken up CROSS-STITCHING! Since I live in such an AWESOME neighbourhood (there are cafes, thrift stores, shoe stores, purse stores, clothing stores, etc! all within walking distance) I was able to just pop down to the fabric stores and pick up the materials I needed to start. Finding a pattern online was a little harder, but I settled on a pretty cool celtic design- since I don't like all the weird animals and "bless this house" cross-stitching patterns that they usually have. I know you're supposed to trace the pattern or print it out, etc. etc. but I don't have a printer (I could have used the one at work, but I was impatient) so I eyeballed it. I'm not too concerned with following the pattern exactly.

I think cross-stitching is VERY entertaining, but hours will have gone by and you only have 1-2 square inches of stitching to show for it, hahaha. Good thing I'm kept entertained by listening to Geoffrey's radio show! The pattern is starting to look like something, which is cool. My plan is to stitch a panel and then when I get back to the US, find some fabric strips that match to make a pillow out of it. It's going to turn into a regular cross-stitching factory here, haha.

I've also been applying for jobs and getting my applications together for some fellowships. It is a LONG process! Holy cow! I applied for one job and it took 3 HOURS to write my cover letter and tailor my resume....then the next day I got a response back that the position had been filled....booo. Haha. But it's not so bad, because now I have a template for cover letters and resumes for jobs that in the domestic and sexual assault services industry. My next big task will be putting together a template for international development/international relations jobs. Thankfully I have this REALLY great program called CareerBeam, which prompts you with insightful questions and helps you understand what exactly you're supposed to say in a cover letter. It helps lend some clarity to all the myriad tasks/jobs I've had and see an underlying theme/larger skill set that I've gotten from it.

So for all you people applying for jobs out there- I definitely recommend CareerBeam. Thankfully Stanford gives its alumni a free subscription, so check out whether your university does the same. (CareerBeam, you can send my endorsement check to....hahaha, but seriously, I think it's a really good program!).

I'll be putting more pictures up on my picasa album soon, so stayed tuned for that. Much love!

pictures of the apartment

2009-02-15T07:01:00.000-08:00

Deera Hadasha Shilee (My NEW Apartment)

2009-02-15T05:08:00.000-08:00

SHALOM! SHALOM!! Today is a GLORIOUS DAY!!

Why you ask?? Because I've FINALLY moved into my apartment! That's right! Now for the next 4-5 months, I don't have to move those darn pieces of luggage!! YAY!!! HALLELUJAH!!

I've included pictures of my totally awesome apartment for your enjoyment. It is a really sweet set up. Came all furnished, utilities and internet included, around the corner from my internship and a short walk from the supermarket and the shook. Plus, I live above a really nice family who are always willing to help me.

Enough of my apartment, I have a lot of news to catch you all up on- since I've been a HORRIBLE blogger lately.

I went back to the states January 9th, as I'm sure you all know by now. It was AWESOME! My cousin Bryan picked me up from the airport and after a quick shower, etc. we headed off with Ralph to go surprise Mr. Benjamin!

Bryan had lured Ben to the local bar by saying that he had a christmas present for him and wanted to catch up on how the rest of his semester went before he got really busy with work. When we got to the bar Ben was already there ("punctual, as usual." as Bryan said). But he was totally oblivious, so he was just looking at his fingernails or something. Well we walk in and at first I thought Ben didn't see me (I had forgotten my own glasses, so couldn't really see if he could see me, hahaha) because he was just sitting there. So I get all the way up to his seat and say "hello Mister." and he finally says, "What are you doing here?!!" and then jumps up and gives me a big hug, haha. Bryan and Ralph ordered some Champagne and we had light conversation before getting dropped off at Ben's MESSY apartment, haha.

That first weekend in Boston was very nice. Ben gave me a tour of MIT's campus and it wasn't TOO freezing- when the sun was shining, it was actually quite pretty the way the sun reflected off the snow.

Then it was off to Houston to visit Mom and Dad at their new place. I must say I am VERY impressed with Houston. It seems really nice and good fit for Mom and Dad. They have REALLY nice Museums and boutiques and restaurants and all sorts of other things to excite the mind! Mom and I got a city pass and visited all sorts of museums, the zoo, the aquarium, etc. We were very cultured! Haha. And of course we went to Old Towne Springs, which is a very pleasant shopping area where the stores are in individual houses and they sell all sorts of trinkets, antiques, cloths, etc. I was lucky enough to taste the FAMED butter cake- delicious!

Dad and I went to a working ranch, which was really cool. The land belongs to this one family and it traces their life from one generation to the next through period-actors and houses. We also got to see them rope cattle and learn more about transporting cattle etc. One interesting fact about this family is that the land and houses was left to the original George daughter, because, as dad said, the men of the family were ne'er do wells, :)

The last weekend in Houston Ben came to visit and we all went to NASA and learned about the old missions and the new direction of NASA. They're no longer going to have Shuttle missions, but will be using new technology to get the astronauts to the Space Center. The next day Ben, Dad, and I went to the Buffalo Soldier's Museum and the frescoes. The museum was really nice. They had a lot of interesting pieces and you could tell the Director put a lot of effort into tracking down and obtaining the pieces.

I got a book from there (for my BIRTHDAY) about Cathy Williams, who was not only the first woman to serve in the U.S. Regulars, but also the first African-American woman. She disguised herself as a man and served from 1866-1868. But she was also with the Army during the Civil War as a laundress and a cook. Anyway, I recently finished reading the book and it was a very interesting read. I learned a lot more about the Civil War and the direction of the US Army after the war. There were some good details in there as well about Cathy Williams herself, but it seems like there are sparse records about her life, how she managed to disguise herself for so long, etc. that it was a lot of speculation on the author's part.

Then it was back to cold, wintery Boston. This time I got to see my friend Kevin (who goes to BC Law School) and Naima (who goes to Harvard Kennedy School). Ben and I also went to a nice potluck with the other members of his cohort (PhD program at MIT). Unfortunately not everyone was there- which I thought was a little ridiculous because there are only 8 of them, it shouldn't be that hard to get together every once and a while....oh well. We made Kushary (an Egyptian dish) and OF COURSE it was a huge hit, haha. The people in his program are very nice and I'm glad Ben gets to be with such interesting, well-rounded people.

Ben and I also went ice skating while we were there. It was pretty funny since poor Ben hasn't really ice skated much....hahaha. So I was whizzing around the rink (I resisted the temptation to really show off and go backwards, haha- not like Auntie Cheryl!), but he got the hang of it eventually and was doing really well by the end (under my tutelage, OF COURSE, haha).

We also went to dinner at Bryan and Ralph's- which was DELICIOUS!! They had two friends who had just moved from France (literally, they got off the plane earlier that day and were moving into their permanent apartment the next day) over, and they were very nice. It was great to hear stories about the family from Bryan and to see more pictures (I think he's inherited his mother's penchant for family history and records). The BEST part was when Bryan very kindly gave the AWESOME gift of two family pictures.

One picture was of Celia and Nic Greene and their children (and two children that Celia had with the plantation owner Calhoun). So that picture has significance because it represents how Bryan and I are related (eventually).

And the other picture was of Eugene Jackson (as in Dad's Dad). In the picture, he has a very nice smile/face and is looking very dapper in his suit.

It's nice to put faces to all the names you hear and to learn more about the people, so I really enjoyed the dinner. Bryan suggested that at some point he and I should go visit all the relatives down South, since even though he's older than me, we're the same generation in the family.

After that it was back to Israel...awwww. But I can't really complain, my flight was in business class and VERY comfortable.

I spent a couple days down in Tel Aviv, hanging out on the beach and reading. And then I went to go meet up with my friend Hammad (from the IIPP fellowship) and his friends and family in Ramallah....SHOCK HORROR! Yes, I am sneaky. I went to Ramallah. But I told Ben before I was going, not like anything was going to happen anyway.

But yeah. Ramallah was great. I got to meet his grandmother who is this awesome lady (she had 12 children!) who only speaks Arabic, but is easy to be around because you can just tell she has such a warm spirit. Hammad did some translating back and forth telling us about her story and asking her questions for us. At the end of the visit she gave me some olive oil from her trees (excuse me!). (More on this later, but I was actually QUITE the hit in Palestine, with Hammad's other grandmother saying I had very nice hands and would be an expensive dowry, hahaha)

We went to Hebron one day and it was kind of sad to visit, because no one goes there any more, so all the shopkeepers are like desperate. But most are still fair and accommodating if you don't want to buy anything...but this one guy followed us around the whole time and said that Americans don't care about Palestinians because we didn't want to buy his ratty, tatty, overpriced junk. At one point this older woman in the market called him over and told him off, haha, so he disappeared for a while.

We visited Abraham's grave while we were there, which was cool. The site is, obviously, religiously important to Muslims and Jews, but it has two separate entrances/sides and the other is not allowed the other entrance. But both entrances are monitored by Israeli soldiers. It was terrible/awkward when we went to go visit from the Muslim side because there was a long line of Muslims waiting to go pray and we join the line, but are immediately ushered to the front by the soldiers and allowed to go in while everyone else has to wait....Thanks for implicating us in this conflict...thanks.

Then we went to Bethlehem to meet up with one of Hammad's friends- who showed us around the university there and then the neighbourhood and one of the refugee camps. I had to go back to Haifa that evening to move my darn luggage from one place to the next, so then I left. Nothing excited happened while I was in Haifa, except it did hail, so moving on to when I joined them back down in Ramallah.

With my luggage in a safe space, at least for the next couple of days, I headed back down to Ramallah- not too hard, I just take the bus to Jerusalem, get to Damascus gate, and take the bus to Ramallah.

I was INCREDIBLY late getting there (for a number of reasons, first and foremost a miscommunication on whether I was waiting to hear from Hammad in the morning and then traffic in Jerusalem is a MESS, I hope they do something before Easter...) so we just hung out at this cafe place and smoked sheesha before going back to Hammad's home.

The next day, Quinn (from IIPP) and Ben (not MY Ben, but a guy named Ben Shaw who knows Hammad from Georgetown and now works in Doha, Qatar for the Georgetown satellite campus there) went to Jerusalem to see the sites. I thought I did a pretty good job as a tour guide- we did most of the Via de Dolorosa, saw the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Room of the Last Supper, King David's Tomb, the Wailing Wall (and wrote notes), and saw part of the Dome of the Rock (because we missed visiting hours and Quinn was unsuccessful in convincing them that he was a non-practicing Muslim who was just learning Arabic....haha).

Anyway, pretty cool day in Jerusalem. The rest of my time in Ramallah was pretty much spent hanging out. One day we had an AWESOME lunch at his other grandmother's home- where she said I had nice, marriageable hands, haha. At one point Quinn tried to stop me from washing the dishes (because back at Hammad's home I teased him that he didn't know how to wash dishes) and I had to subtly argue with him to give me the dishes back before his grandmother got mad, etc. See, I know when to play the right role and it doesn't bother me, haha. I think if I had to do it all the time it would drive me a little crazy, but it's not bad to do temporarily and have everyone think you're awesome for it, hahaha. :)

Then the other day Quinn, Hammad, and I (because Ben had to go back to work) met up with some of Hammad's friends from school and had a BBQ in Jericho (the lowest point on Earth)- how crazy is that? It was REALLY nice. We smoked sheesha and ate all sorts of DELICIOUS bbq'd meats, haha. I thought I was going to explode. And his friends were really funny. They had been playing this card and then all agreed to team up with one of us to "teach" us how to play, but it pretty much turned into us becoming proxies because it was quite a complicated card game- and I've never been good at card games like hearts, spades, etc.

Then Quinn and I left to come back to Haifa....in theory. We walked through the checkpoint (as in, the huge wall between Palestine and Israel) and were hoping to find a taxi to take us to the central bus station, but it was too late. So we just started walking along the wall in the direction of civilization.

At some point, I decide to try and flag down a car and see if they can help. Just as I'm doing this Ben calls me to wish me Happy Valentine's Day and I try to very politely listen and then say, uhhh...can I call you back, I'm still in Jerusalem and we're trying to see if we can hitchhike home." hahaha. Well the guy that pulled over was REALLY nice (I think because he was Arab and glad that we visited Ramallah) and gave us a ride into town and told us how much a taxi to the bus station should be.

So we taxi it to the bus station to catch our bus up to Haifa, only to discover that there are no more buses for the evening (it's about 11:15 PM by this time). So we have to take a bus to Tel Aviv, where I said goodbye to Quinn since he was leaving to go back to London the next day and it didn't make sense to come up to Haifa to come back down to Tel Aviv, and I take the train up to Haifa. I made it back to where I was staying around 3AM!! I promptly collapsed into bed for a couple of hours before I had to move my stuff out of there and into the new apartment.

Of course, nothing is as easy as it should be and there was a bit of a lag between moving out of one place and moving into my new apartment. So I left the old place at 10:30 AM-ish and couldn't move into my apartment till 1 PM. So I just wheeled my bags in the direction of my new apartment and sat on a bench for the next couple of hours, enjoying the sunshine and writing in my journal. It was only awkward when people would go out shopping, pass me by curiously, and then return about an hour later, with their shopping, to see me still sitting there. They must have thought my friend (because I probably looked like I was waiting to be picked up) was a TOTAL BUM! Hahaahaha.

Anyway, I am now mostly moved in. I still have to go up to the university and pick up the rest of my things, but yeah....it feels GREAT to know I won't have to move all my possessions for a while. To have a home base. And such an AWESOME home base at that!!

COME VISIT!! I have a pull-out couch!! Much love to everyone!! Thanks for reading, sorry for being such a bum in posting.... :)

Shalom Mishbacha ve Havereem Shilee (Hello My Family and Friends)

2008-12-12T03:52:00.000-08:00

Rather than updating you on all that's happened since my last blog, I'm just going to jump right into the present. I think part of the reason I've been putting off blogging is the pile of things to blog about has been getting bigger and bigger and it just became such a daunting task that I avoided it.

But enough of that.

Let's see. Things in Israel are going well. The weather here is getting cold. And since we're on top of a mountain, it's quite windy at night. Makes a lot of noise. Classes are going well. I'm still enjoying Hebrew, which is good.

My friends and I are planning on going to Jerusalem and Bethlehem for Christmas, which is REALLY exciting! I can't wait to wander around the Old city shooks/souqs and buy all sorts of goodies (any requests?). And then on Christmas Eve we're going to Bethlehem for a church service, although we don't know what denomination yet. I've been speaking to my friends at Aswat (the Gay and Lesbian Women Organization) and they're all Palestinian and say that going to Bethlehem should be fine. Apparently it's a really exciting place to be on xmas eve, so we're all excited.

My internship is going really well. My boss seems very impressed with my work so far and we have a good relationship, which is always nice. I've just finished putting together the first monthly newsletter for the HRCC, which she'll send out to donours and supporters to keep them updated on our work. And I've already made a powerpoint presentation on the HRCC for her to use in potential donour meetings and she really liked that- so yay!

Best news so far is I've finally found an apartment for next semester. It's down in Hadar (the more-Arab part of Haifa) and is just around the corner from where I intern, so I'll be able to walk up the hill to work, down the hill to the shook and supermarket to go shopping, and down the street to cafes and to visit friends. I'm really excited for next semester.

I was off campus this morning to give my deposit on the apartment- it's a one bedroom apartment, fully furnished with plates, pots, etc, too that I'm subletting from this nice family that's right below me. They have a 2 year old daughter and a really cute black labrador. It's nice to know that there's someone who knows that I'm alive in the building. And there are some students from this semester that are staying next semester, so hopefully they'll pop down to come see me because I have this really nice roof/patio area that's perfect for hanging out.

Anyway, walking around downtown this morning made me really excited for next semester. I FINALLY got to see the Israel I was hoping for. There were all sorts of exciting outdoor markets today, with music, and families walking around, and people buying food and clothes, knick knacks, etc. for pretty cheap prices. I think being up on the university I was feeling really isolated and like I was missing out on the "real" Israel (because it's so hard to get off campus- the buses are never on time, they're slow, they're kind of expensive, who knows if they'll be one to bring you back, etc.), but the neighbourhood I'm going to be living in next semester is perfect! And just down the street (maybe 15-20 minute walk) is my friend Nasim, who works at the Bahai center here, so hopefully we'll get to hang out a lot more.

Lately I've been finding it difficult to balance being in Israel and enjoying my time here, and trying to figure out what I'll do when I get back to the states. Because applications for fellowships, etc are due so EARLY (like around Jan/Feb for programs that start in the Fall), I have to start working on applications now. But that puts my mind back in the states, and then I feel like I start thinking too much about going back to the states and not enough about being in Israel. Not to mention how overwhelming it is when you start to really start planning for your future and you factor in application procedures, writing a personal statement, getting recommendations, building your resume, time to get a job, etc. etc. and realize that to be on track for where you want to be in 10 years you have to do this, this, and this RIGHT NOW (if not yesterday, haha).

I'm also including a link to my picasa webalbums. Even though I may not be able to narrate my adventures to you with words, you can at least see in pictures what I've been up to- which is a LOT! haha.

http://picasaweb.google.com/summerjack

Enjoy!

To Hold You Over

2008-11-03T09:51:00.001-08:00

I know, I KNOW. I have a LOT to update you all on and I promise one day, while I'm stuck on top of this mountain because the buses don't run, I'll tell you ALL about it! hahahaha, but in the meantime, here are the much promised pictures you have all been waiting for.

Views from Haifa- either walking to class or from my apartment! Beautiful, I know. And you can even see the water (although the beach that I frequent is actually around the "corner" as it were - to the left. If you keep following the bay to the right you come to Lebanon. But still, you can tell they're lovely beaches.)

In the Land of the Pharaohs (Part Two)

2008-10-14T06:17:00.001-07:00

So where did we leave off? Oh that's right, our heroine had bought some amazing luggage for a ridiculously cheap price, haha.

The next was quite an adventure. Four of us head off to the train station to try and get the other tickets for the train to Luxor that evening. The other four get up a bit later and plan on leaving for the pyramids around 9 AM. The plan was for us (those who went to the train station, and of course, even though I had a ticket, I went because I speak Arabic) to meet the other group at the Pyramids, hopefully between 9 and 10 AM.

So, we make it to the train station no problem and the ticket person is this very nice gentleman. I start with all the niceties and even apologize that my Arabic is not perfect but inshallah we will understand each other. Almost hassle free with get 4 more tickets for the train that evening!! Absolutely elated we get in a taxi to meet the other group, congratulating ourselves on the fact that we should be arriving at the Pyramids around the same time as the rest of the group (since we finished at the train station around 9 AM).

Well, we get to the Pyramids and are dropped off at this fancy new entrance, with actual turnstyles and everything. Those of you who have been to the Pyramids remember that it used to be this sad looking guard shack thing at the base of the Pyramids near the Sphinx. Well now you get dropped off at the entirely opposite end.

So we stand around waiting for the other group until a little after 10 AM, at which I start to wonder if maybe they've been dropped off at the other entrance (near the Sphinx) since I've never been dropped off at this entrance. So we decide to go in and book it down the Sphinx, where we wait another 30 minutes looking around for them. When it gets to be about 11:30 AM we decide that they've probably just gone in without us and we'll all meet back up at the hotel (since that's where we were keeping our luggage for the day).

So we go on to have a pretty enjoyable day at the Pyramids, always keeping an eye open for the other members of our group. We go inside one of the pyramids, which is a sweaty, claustrophobic experience, takes lots of photos, etc. etc. The usual hagglers have been pretty much cleared out of there (there was a NY times article about that a while back), so you can actually enjoy the Pyramids pretty hassle free.

Around 2 pm we've seen most of the Pyramids and are getting hot and tired. We make one last attempt to find the other members of the group by heading down to the Sphinx (again) because there's a cafe down there and we thought maybe they were sitting in the shade looking/waiting for us.

Anyway, we make our way back to the hotel around 3 pm. As soon as we walk in the desk clerk says, "OMG, WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN!! YOUR FRIENDS ARE SO WORRIED!! THEY'VE GONE TO THE TOURISM POLICE!! THEY THOUGHT YOU DIED!" And we're all shocked (and me slightly offended that they thought I would let an Egyptian kidnap me, haha) because we figured they would go on and tour the Pyramids, realizing it would be impossible to find us in there.

There's a note waiting for us that made us feel a little bit better because it sounded like they were a little worried and then went into the Pyramids and wanted us to stay at the hotel to meet them. Well, when they make it back we discover that they did NOT see the Pyramids! Instead, they spend the WHOLE afternoon sitting OUTSIDE the Pyramids waiting for us! Except, of course, for when they went to the Tourism Police and tried to mime "kidnapping" to the unresponsive officers. We felt TERRIBLE! Because we had had a pretty nice day...

We're still not entirely sure how we missed each other, because when we confirmed what times we waited at the gate (apparently they were also dropped off up top, it seems to be the new official entrance) we were in the same place at the same time. So we spent some awkward time trying to explain what had happened and they filled us in on their "adventure" with the Tourism police/trying to call the US embassy...

After that we went to Costa Coffee to try and check our internet, but now they make you pay for internet! So we just hung out there until our train, where even MORE controversy arose.

So, the tickets. On the first day we were able to buy 4 tickets (if you remember), well one of them was in an entirely separate cart. Then when we went the second day, we were able to buy 4 more tickets and all these were together. I tried asking the man if he could switch the one loner ticket into the same cart, but no go. So, we're sitting at the cafe at the train station, playing cards and trying to decide who's going to get the loner seat. OF COURSE, they want to volunteer me because I speak Arabic and can just argue with the person....I think not.

So, I propose that we just try and put the loner person in the same cart as us and that to do this, I will hold onto ALL the tickets for that cart (including the loner ticket) so that no one person is stuck with bad ticket. For the other 4 tickets (that were all together) the people can just hold onto their ticket. So then I ask, "Ok, so who wants to be in the cart with all 4? And who wants to be with me in the cart where we're trying to take a seat that's not ours?" Of course most people dive for the tickets in the cart together and the rest of us get to have the potentially interesting train ride.

We get on the train and for the first couple of stops, no controversy- no one comes by to claim the seat we were taking- excellent. Part way through, some people from the other group (with the seats all together) come into our cart complaining that the seats in their cart are less comfortable, it's cold, they don't recline, etc. etc. So then they also try to swipe seats, but within a stop a German (?) couple and their tour guide get on the train. They argue with the tour guide and the German couple are nice enough to go and see the other seats. Within another couple of stops, they're back however, because they also don't like the seats. So those people have to go back to the cart (which they were not happy about, but more on that later).

The four of us (with the loner seat ticket, however) manage to make it through hassle free and therefore are all in the same cart the whole night, yay! Unfortunately, the train took FOREVER (13 hours instead of the usual 9 hours) and so we don't make it to Luxor till 1 pm (most of our day gone!). Then the people in the other cart (the apparently less comfortable cart) start complaining, because most of the people in their had bought their ticket the first day (which is when we got the 3 seats and the loner seat) and therefore felt THEY should have been sitting up there. But in all truth and honesty, we gave people the option of taking the easy seats or having the potentially difficult seats and they CHOSE the easy (and apparently less comfortable seats), so I wasn't in to hearing the complaints.

The problem was we didn't realize the tickets we bought the second day (from the very nice man) were apparently for 2nd class, because we bought them from the same window as the day before and paid approximately the same price (maybe 5 LE less, hardly significant for a difference in class). So yeah, I wasn't listening to complaints...

Even MORE drama when trying to buy tickets BACK to Cairo for the next night. I go to the window and have to deal with a VERY NOT NICE man, who refuses to even look in the computer to see if there are any tickets. Meanwhile, people keep popping their heads in the sides and buying tickets. So I have enough and say, what do you mean there are no tickets? If there are no tickets, what are all these people buying? And he gets all huffy and says, no tickets, no tickets, come back tomorrow. To which I reply, well then, you better tell all the people behind me, who ALSO want tickets for tomorrow, that there are no tickets for them either. Because if there are no tickets for me, there are no tickets for them! And he stalks off in a huff and everyone in line behind me gets in a huff and I'm like, I'm not the one causing the problem, he is. He's refusing to look in the computer for tickets. Eventually someone knocks on the door of the Tourism people and behind this glass door, into a very well air conditioned room, comes this Egyptian diva lady who asks me what's wrong. And I explain very nicely that we just wanted tickets to get back to Cairo because we have class again and that this man is refusing to look in the computer, etc. etc. So she gets mad at him in Arabic, but he stays to the line that there are no tickets, maybe tomorrow. Whatever, it was worth it to see him get in trouble. If he wasn't so rude about it maybe I would have been more inclined to believe him.

Back to the hotel. So we check into the Happy Land Hotel (where I stayed last time I came to Luxor) and I start asking about arranging travel to the Valley of the Kings and Hapshepsut's Temple, etc. for tomorrow- which we get for a special price since I've been there before and we're a relatively large group. That afternoon/evening we go to Carnak and do a REALLY quick tour of the temple, since it was closing for the evening before opening back up again for the tacky light show they do.

That evening we wander around Luxor looking for a place to eat. I explain to everyone before leaving that I don't know Luxor that well and that the last time I was here, I found dinner by wandering around with friends and we just randomly picked a place, so I don't remember how to get back there. After much wandering people are like, wait? what are we doing? I'm hungry. To which I reply, well then pick a place, I said we would stop if someone saw something...

So we go into this nice hotel place and get a really nice dinner before heading back to our hotel to play more cards and hang out. One of the frustrating elements of this trip was the fact that some people seemed incapable of making decisions for themselves.

Anyway, next day we go BACK to the train station to get tickets back to Cairo which, SOMEHOW, have magically appeared today...but whatever. Then we run around trying to find an ATM before getting in our mini bus to get a tour of the Valley of the Kings, Hapshepsut's Temple, Habu Temple, and the Colossi of Memnon. It is, of course, hot as hell and I'm convinced my brain is going to melt out of my head, so I stuck to the shade.

It was kind of funny because at Hepshepsut's Temple I was sitting in the shade and this one guard person I think was a little concerned that I was going to pass out so when I got up to move he was like, "No, it's ok, you can stay in the shade." because the shady part where I was sitting was kind of in a roped off area.

Anyway, we make it around the sites and at one point Gabby and Leah tell me that the guide person told them that he doesn't like them and that next time they should not come to Egypt. Apparently the controversy arose because Gabby and Leah started bargaining with the sales people at the tourist cafe at Hapshepsut's Temple about how overpriced things were (which of course they were, but it was also a tourist cafe, so it's expected and not really them being cheating Egyptians, which is what they thought). So the guide got mad at them and they got mad and it was kind of awkward to Habu Temple, but we manage to make it through the rest of the sites.

THEN, all of a sudden, we're on our way back to the hotel and the tour guide starts telling Alex (one of the guys in our group) that Alex owes him money for the entrance ticket to the Valley of the Kings. They start arguing back and forth and eventually the guide shouts that Americans are cheaters and liars and we shouldn't come to Egypt next time. And I have kind of checked out by this point, because I don't know WHAT'S going on, but I do know that I've seen some disappointing behaviour on the part of the other people in the group and that the guide seemed nice, and figured there was a misunderstanding somewhere. Thank GOD Lillian (also in the group) tries to settle this and eventually we find out that the tour guide miscalculated. He said he was given 280 LE to buy tickets- well everyone gave him 40 LE for a 39 LE entrance fee. SO in reality, he only paid for SEVEN people and ALEX, like Alex said, had bought his own ticket......

Drama Drama Drama!

So we hang out in the hotel for a while before catching the train back to Cairo which, thankfully, arrives on time this time! But this time it's really early in the morning, so we make it to the hotel and check in (relatively hassle free), take showers, and go to sleep before waking up for breakfast. The people who didn't see the Pyramids went and the rest of us hung out in Zamalek. I wanted them to see the different suburbs of Cairo and to see the class differences, which hopefully they picked up on. Then that night we went to my FAVOURITE restaurant Sequoias, which is kind of a fancy place, which I told people about beforehand, but OF COURSE this guy Alex insists on wearing his Galabiya (thobe) to the restaurant, so they almost don't let us in before the waiters and sheesha guys were thobes.....awkward.

But they do and we have a pretty fun time! I was really glad to be back because I love sequoias and their sheesha is SO good!

Next day some people plan a day around Coptic Cairo, old Islamic Cairo, etc. etc. while another group head off to Alexandria (oh Alexandria, haha), but Miry and I decide we want to get a manicure and pedicure before going to see Coptic Cairo in the afternoon. So we have a LOVELY relaxing morning and still get to take in the sites. We eat at this awesome fateer restaurant in downtown and then head back to the hotel to meet up with the other members. This time we have a PLAN (yay!) and that is to meet back at the hotel at 5 pm and then to meet the people who went to Alexandria at the Conrad Hotel (only because it's so big and noticeable and on the Nile) at 9 PM to get a Fallukah ride.

So we head off to the Conrad and only have to wait a while before the Alexandria groups shows up. Then we head down to the Nile to try and get a Fallukah ride (I thought there were places right across the street from the Conrad, but it turns out it was way, way, WAY down the street. Oh well, they got the experience of walking along the Nile at night, whether they really wanted that experience or not, haha). We get to where all the Fallukahs are and I start trying to get a price. The guy first tells me 150 LE for the 8 of us for 30 minutes, which I just LAUGH at and tell him, "I'm not paying that. I live here, I know how much it should be. You're not the only boat on the Nile." And he laughs back and says, "OH, haha, ok. 100 LE" which is still too much, so we go back and forth and I get for 70 LE. I just thought it was hilarious how he immediately dropped the price, haha.

We have an enjoyable time on the Nile and then some people head off to go back/out and some of us head off to the Khan to do some last minute shopping. It's getting pretty late so not everything is open. I really just wanted my delightfully tacky huge necklaces and earrings and found this one store where the guy actually agreed to my price, but he was SO CREEPY I didn't want to buy it from him, sad face. Anyway, we make it back to Fishawy's and Miry gets some Henna done (another plan, this time, was to meet at fishawy's cafe at 12:30 am) while we wait for the others. While we're drinking tea this guy comes back selling those hand woven mural things and I kind of like them so I start looking.

The first price he quotes is 85 LE for ONE, which I say is too much since I'm student, but I keep looking and find a second one I like. He says 170 LE for the two (no discount!) and I offer him 50 LE for the two. We go back and forth for quite a while, and starts dropping the price every time I counter, so we settle at 70 LE for the two. I suppose if I kept pushing I could have gotten them for 50, but I was happy and he was happy with 70. So now I have more things to decorate my future apartment!! (OH, at some point in Coptic Cairo I got these AWESOME glass lamps from this really nice guy. For some reason the glass and brass lamps in Coptic Cairo are WAY cheaper, before even bargaining, then the Khan, so I told everyone to wait till there to buy).

Alex and Ali eventually show up at the Khan, totally out of breath and asking if we walked here. I was confused so I'm like, to Fishawy's?? Yeah, we walked here, how else would get in?? Well, turns out they walked all the way from the Nile to the KHAN!! Weirdos...

Next day we had our pretty uneventful day back to the Israel, where we met a really nice guy named Ben who works for Intel in Tel Aviv. He will come up later when we travel to Jordan, but for now I'm EXHAUSTED with typing, so I think I'll leave the story/adventure off there. Love to all!

In the Land of the Pharoahs (Part 1)

2008-10-06T04:19:00.000-07:00

So, as most of you now know, I went to Egypt for a week (for the Rosh Hashana holiday). It was a little last minute as the group was all frantically searching for good deals and prices to a million places- Turkey, Cyprus, Greece....and Cairo came out cheapest.

Our adventure started bright and early (5:45 AM) on Sunday morning, as we had to catch the bus from the university down to the train station. Then we took the train from Haifa to Tel Aviv, arriving around 8:30 AM. Then we wandered around lost for a bit trying to find the place to catch the bus to EGYPT!! We eventually found it and started our LONG journey to Egypt a little after 10 AM. It takes about 6 hours to go from Tel Aviv to Taba (the border with Egypt) and we made it in pretty good time with enough bathroom and food breaks. It was just a small bus/van, but it wasn't too crowded and I had brought a pillow along to sleep.

Then we had to cross the border into Egypt, which required buying a visa, paying an exit fee, and waiting in long lines filled with Europeans, haha. But we eventually made it through in about 2.5 hours- there was a huge delay with one member of the bus group (not the student group I was with) because the Egyptians didn't like his passport or something. It was actually kind of funny, the people who were hassled the most, traveling into Egypt, on the EGYPTIAN side, were Arabs....

Then we took another bus from Taba to Cairo, which was another 8 hours through the Sinai. There was a guy who kept pointing out sites along the way and we stopped at a couple of places to use the "bathroom".... a term I apply loosely to those places. Luckily I had provided everyone with a packing list: 1) TOILET PAPER 2) chargers 3) food, but most importantly, toilet paper, because as anyone who has traveled in the Middle East knows, that can be pretty hard to come by....

First scam of Egypt (which thankfully did not happen to me, but sadly I wasn't around to prevent happening to others) was when we stopped at a place for food and two people in the group ended up paying 60 egyptian pounds (henceforth abbreviated LE) for dinner. It was a big dinner, and by American standards, would have come out to that price...but IN America, not in Egypt. I was upset the tour dude didn't help out a little and make sure they didn't pay too much. But they were happy with it at the time, so I didn't say anything (by the end of the trip they were like, Oh man, I can't believe we paid that much for dinner...).

Anyway, we arrived in Cairo around 11:30 pm and thankfully we were dropped off very close to it (we were staying at the Concorde in Dokki and we got dropped off at the Sheraton, where we met Mr. Muneeb that day!). I was REALLY proud of myself for remembering how to get to the hotel after 1.5 years and in the DARK!

First day in Egypt we went straight to the train station to buy our tickets to Luxor. But because it was maybe going to be Eid, it was a bit of a hassle. First of all, one of the taxis (or at least the people in it got lost) so we spent about 30 minutes wandering around looking for them. Then when we made it to the ticket window (I forgot that the Luxor ticket window is in this REALLY random place) and the lady was like, It's full. It's full. Everything? Yes, everything, full full. Can you at least look in the computer? Full, full. Please, madam....and lo and behold, 4 tickets!! Exciting, but there were 8 people in the group. Are there anymore tickets? I already found you four. Ah yes, thank you very much for that, you are wonderful, but there are 8 people in the group and I can't leave 4 of my friends behind. Luxor is very beautiful and they really want to see it.

Unfortunately, no budging there, so we had to come back the next morning and buy tickets (which thankfully we were able to do).

Then we went to the Museum, which I tired of very quickly so I left to walk to my bank to take out some money. Two other girls from the group came with me, but I forgot that they probably wouldn't be used to the heat, and that I walk pretty quickly, so long distances don't take me very long....they were kind of wilted by the time we made it. But it was cool to walk back across my apartment and to know that I still remember my way around the city.

Then we met everyone back at the Museum and went to go get Kushari. It was Ramadan for part of the time we were there and I'd never been in Egypt during Ramadan, so I was unsure if food places would be open. Thankfully they were and everyone was pretty hungry after the heat and the walking, etc. After some food we got cabs to Khan Al Khalili. Since we were a group of 8 we needed to travel in two taxis and we made sure each taxi had 1 guy and at least one person who spoke Arabic.

Despite these precautions, groups still managed to get lost, haha! We lost one of the taxis on the way to the Khan and were standing around waiting for them when this guy came up to "talk." (I think maybe someone in the group had asked him to take a picture of us). Well, it wasn't too bad because he helped us find the other members of our group (they were dropped off further up the street) but then we got led of a walk around Islamic Cairo because "here they make things by hand and the Khan is too expensive...etc etc." I tried to tell people that on this "walk" we would end up at all his friends stores, but people seemed content to be led along and nothing bad would happen to them, they just might be charged more for things.

So we went on an adventure around dirty streets to various shops and some people bought things. I really don't know the value of those wooden boxes with Mother of Pearl in them, so I wasn't much help there, but as far as Pashminas went, I was pretty good. After about 1.5 hours of this adventure, we end up at his store- surprise surprise! And he has some nice pashminas, but he wants too much for them. Of course he says, "No No, this is a very good price and you can't get them in the Khan," to which I reply, "I'm sure they're a VERY good price for Egypt, but I am spoiled because I can buy my pashminas in Bahrain or Saudi. I have too many of them already- it's very lovely, but no thank you." and I go out to join the others. About 2 minutes later he says, "OK OK, Miss Bahrain, tell me, how much you want for the Pashmina." EXCELLENT! It's a really pretty light Rose colour and, as I can't actually get them in Bahrain or Saudi anymore, I had really wanted it, but wasn't going to be too disappointed if he didn't change his mind on the price. Thankfully he did.

Anyway, after that LONG adventure, we made it across the street to the Khan, were we began the 2nd adventure of trying to find Fishawy's Cafe (as by this point, people were tired of walking and wanted to tea). After asking MANY people, AND, THANKFULLY, randomly finding the handbag store (where they had very nice luggage!) we made it to Fishawys. Of course, I stopped in the handbag store for a bit to make sure the guy remembered me, told him how many things I bought last time, how I brought my mother and grandfather there, how we had tea, how I brought my friends there, how I'm bringing MORE friends there, and OH, by the way, how much is that Gucci luggage?? I said I would think about it, but first I had to take my friends to get some tea.

We finally made it to Fishawy's, ordered mint tea and sheeshas, and sat back and relaxed. A couple people got Henna done, it was really pretty but for some reason they only use the black henna in the Khan now, and I think it's much prettier when it's the traditional browny-rust colour.

After rejuvenating our spirits, we rallied for a tour of the Khan. I went back to the handbag store and DISASTER, the guy wasn't there anymore. One of people that worked there said he had to go home because his daughter wasn't feeling well, but that he would help. I was a little dissatisfied with this because it meant I would have to repeat the whole speel again, and with more effort so that he would believe me. So after much elaboration on what an AWESOME customer I am, I asked again how much the luggage was- 250 LE.

Ah, but the other gentleman told me 200 LE and I was going to try and negotiate with him from there.

200? Really? He told you that? I think this is because you are a good customer.

I AM a good customer. And I came all the way back to your store after 1.5 years and next time I come to Egypt, I will come back to your store. But I am student and don't have much money. What about 150 LE?

150? No, I lose....

Anyway, it goes back and forth for awhile, with me CONTINUOUSLY mentioning what an amazing customer I am, and I get the luggage for 170 LE. WOHOOO! Of course, with bigger luggage, this meant that I could buy more things to put IN the luggage!

End of Part ONE.

Turn Right for Jordan, Straight Ahead for Syria

2008-10-06T04:06:00.000-07:00

The International School organized a hike through the Golan Heights the other week. It was AMAZING! The hikes weren't even that long, but you did so much change in altitude up and out of canyons, that it was pretty tiring by the end.

It was a really interesting experience because our tour guide was nice, but very clearly a Zionist, so he gave an "interesting" history of Israel and the region- needless to say it relied a lot on 1) Orientialist views of the "Arab Mentality" and 2) a slight distortion of facts as to what happened when, why, and with who's money.....Oh well, the views were beautiful, which is what I always focused on. I think he noticed because sometimes he would be talking right at me and I would just keep focusing on the mountains, or a rock over there, etc, etc. haha.

We hiked two days up in the Golan and spent the night at a Kibbutz nearby. It was a good experience to meet other people in the program outside of a class setting (although we only had a week of class and then the HOLIDAYS!!).

October is apparently a month of holidays in Israel- Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur, Succot....we have off from Sept 29 to practically October 21!! (we have two days of classes Oct 6 and 7).

Even though it's only been a week of classes, thus far I'm liking them. I was originally going to take this Jewish Ethnic groups class, but didn't really like the teaching format, so instead I'm taking this awesome Collective Memory (for graduate credit too!). It should be really informative and I'm thinking I'm going to write my research paper on something like how the Arab Jewish community complicates the common (or hegemonic) collective memory of Israel- or not, I don't know, I'd have to do more research to see if this is actually a "problem."

It's a little frustrating how expensive Israel is. It's really nice to have the beach so close, etc. but the cost of basic things like food, etc. is a little ridiculous. I keep holding out for finding a place to buy like cheap street food, etc. but even with the conversion it doesn't seem to be any better than the U.S. BOOOO!

I'm still waiting to hear back about my internship, I'm meeting with the Director dude this afternoon before class (awkwardly, before HIS class that I switched out of to take the Collective Memory class, haha, oh well.).

A Long Expected Journey

2008-09-21T11:33:00.000-07:00

So, I've finally made it to Haifa! It's surreal to finally be here after all the planning, talking about it, etc. It's SO beautiful! I can see the beach from my apartment (as we're on top of a hill) and the weather has been awesome. But before my details on Haifa, a fill-in on the rest of my adventure in Wales and my time in Athens.

The rest of my time in Wales was really nice. We went to visit Auntie Eunice and she had TONS of yummy sandwiches, cakes, biscuits, and tea- much better than Uncle Gerard's, haha! Auntie Cheryl and I went to Llandudno with Hollie in the car. We went to get a cell phone for my time in Israel and I got a really cool new model- Samsung J700. And it was a bargain because I didn't have to get a contract like I would in the states, so I saved $100! wohoo!! Llandudno was fun. A bit of a homecoming for Hollie because the last time I went there with Auntie Cheryl, Hollie was a puppy and refusing to walk on the street, so we had to carry her around the promenade- HAHAHA. But she was very good this time. We were practicing being the "pack" leader, as Cesar would say, and she was very good walking along side us. My last day there we went to a very nice place for lunch with Nana and Grandad- the sun was even shining!

My flight left Manchester around 11 pm and arrived in Athens around 4:15 am ish. I didn't manage to sleep on the plane, so I was EXHAUSTED by the time I made it to the airport. I attempted to sleep in the airport, but it was really uncomfortable. At some point, though, I was exhausted enough that I was able to fall asleep and woke up at 10 am. I got some tea and pastry before starting my adventure in Athens.

I took the metro to Syntagma square, which all the websites said was a touristy place and close to all the sites. Well, apparently I walked in the wrong direction, because I didn't see anything except dirty streets and old Greek people kept stopping me on the street to ask me things (I guess because they thought I was Greek) and I just had to smile and say "sorry."

I'm so used to Egypt that I was paranoid to look lost or ask for directions because in Egypt, if you do that a million people pop out of nowhere to "help" you....yeah...right. But it turns out Athens isn't like that at all because I saw lots of people doing Lonely Planet walking guides...oh well.

Eventually I decided to head back to Syntagma Square (begin at the beginning) and arrived in time to see the changing of the guard at the tomb of the unknown soldier. It was pretty cool to watch, the Greek military has pretty funny uniforms and walks.

After that I set off in the opposite direction of my first attempt and came upon some really old pillars (I'm still not entirely sure what those pillars were, haha, I needed Kari to be my guide). From there I was on a roll and made my way to the Acropolis, the Agora, the temple of Dionysus, etc. etc.

All the sites are really close to each other, so it was pretty easy to go from site to site. It just got exhausting after a while because it takes SO long to make your way through all those sites and it was pretty hot.

I took lots of photos on my phone because OF COURSE my camera wasn't charged- whoops. But my cellphone was doing a good job (that's probably why the battery ran out).

I wandered through the flea market and again, NOTHING like Egypt. I'm surprised those people sell anything! They're so passive. They just stand there outside their shops. No marketing at all! Mom will be pleased to here that the little Bangledeshi men that sell in the Bahrain souq have made their way to Athens- except here they're selling these crazy goo balls that flatten when you throw them down. Pretty weird looking.

After getting some food, I decided to head back to the airport because I didn't want to get lost at night on the streets and there wasn't really anything exciting to do in the neighbourhood I was in once the sun started to set. Again at the airport I attempted to sleep, but I've been having so much trouble falling asleep lately that that was a complete bust.

I did, however, manage to figure out how to browse the internet on my phone (probably ANOTHER reason why my battery died, haha) and sent some text messages to Ben.

Anyway, I FINALLY made to Haifa around 4 am Israeli time. Luckily I heard this girl saying she was returning to Haifa when we were waiting at the gate, so I approached her in passport control ("Hey, did I hear you say you're going to Haifa?" "yes...." "ME TOO!! Now we can travel together!!") Her name is Abby and she's really nice. She goes to Vassar and was here over the summer doing the intensive Hebrew course. We took a Sherut (shared taxi) back to Haifa and arrived around 7:30 am.

The program scheduled breakfast for the students at 8:30 and a tour of the Bahai gardens at 9:30, both of which I had EVERY intention of going to. HOWEVER, I decided to lay down for like 5 seconds and OF COURSE, didn't wake up till 3 pm....oh well. I guess I really needed the sleep.

There was an Israeli movie and pizza night that night, so I got up at 3, took a MUCH needed shower, and organized my room (in retrospect, I shouldn't have organized my room, because I may be moving as my apartment is apparently for smokers and people smoke in the common room. I can't really smell anything in my room, but it means I won't really spend time in the common room....decisions decisions). I met a lot of the people in the program at the movie night- they all seem pretty cool. There are even some students around my age who have already graduated, which is nice.

That brings us to TODAY. Today we had the usual orientation stuff- info about classes, security, campus tour, and internship meetings. The internship meeting was pretty interesting because I think I did a good job representing and carrying myself. I had come to Haifa with the intention of interning with Isha L'Isha (or the Haifa Feminist Center), which I have read a lot about and am interested in because of there work with the different Jewish ethnic groups. However, the internship coordinator suggested this other internship with Shatil- an NGO umbrella organization that works with a lot of Haifa NGOs.

At Shatil I would be working on some fundraising research, which would give me valuable quantitative skills. However, at Isha L'Isha, I would be working on grant writing (another valuable skill) and be in the environment I want to be in, meeting the people I'm interested in learning more about- which I guess I could do at Shatil as well.

Anyway, back to my crowning moment (haha). The coordinator was going on about Shatil and I said, "Is the internship with Isha L' Isha not available?" and goes into this kind of long explanation about how it is still available, and I would be working on this, etc. etc., but "that for you, I think Shatil would be a better internship." And in the back of my head I think, "I appreciate his advice, but he only knows me on paper, so I need to take his opinion into account, but if Isha L' Isha is where I want to be, then that's where I want to be." So I was good at making sure I let him know my appreciation for his insight, but said I would like some time to consider my options, and let him know the considerations I was weighing. All in all, I think I handled it really well! YAY me! haha.

So tomorrow starts our first day of classes- there are no classes regular classes before NOON, although I'm planning on taking Hebrew and that will be some time in the morning, but definitely not 8:30 am like Arabic was in Egypt.

Well, I think that's all the updating I can do right now. If I think of anything else, I'll update or write a new entry, but I think this should be sufficient for a while! Love to everyone!

A Hummingbird's Diet

2008-09-12T11:50:00.000-07:00

It has been a busy last couple of days. As soon as Auntie Cheryl started her holiday, we hit the ground running. First we went to Cheshire Oaks (to the Outlets) to pootle (happy mom?) around the stores and to have a look at the new Links of London store they opened. The new store is very nice (obviously not as nice as the one in Liverpool) and they had some nice things, including a blue quartz sweetie bracelet which Auntie Cheryl got for me.

Next day was very wet and rainy, so we stayed in. But then the day after that we went to see Auntie Cheryl's friend Mandy of the Wirral Witches. Wirral Witches is a charity group that raises money for Clarehouse, which is a hospice and respite care center for children. They were having a meeting to finalize the plans for the golf benefit they were having later in the week. We were only supposed to meeting Mandy for lunch, but it never materialized because the meeting dragged on for forever....awwww.

So after the meeting Auntie Cheryl and I made a mad dash to Tesco's to buy some yummy lamb chops, fruit, and olives for dinner. When we made it back home we consumed the fruit and olives at a rate of knots while we waited for the lamb and roast potatoes to cook in the oven.

Next day we went to Wrexham and did some more pootling and shopping. I'm very much channeling women's 1930 fashion these days, with the blouses and pencil skirts and nice cardigans, because I love the lines they make. So, that said, I bought some lovely blouses and cardigan while we were out. They were all very good prices (even given the exchange rate) so I don't feel too bad (let's just hope I have room in my bags and that they're not overweight!). We took Nana with us that day and she says we dragged her up and down the hills....awwww.

Day after that was MORE shopping in Chester with Auntie Cheryl's friend Wynn. Another very fun day, where I bought 3 more blouses from BHS at an exceedingly good price! We thought we'd find some good buys at Debenhams, as they were having an additional 20% off sale, but after the wonders of Primark, we were not interested in what they had to offer.

(Primark is this AWESOME store that is WAY better than anything we have in America. It sells all sorts of things at like Walmart prices, but the quality is 100x better and there's a lot more variety)

It was a long day at Chester as we were waiting for Auntie Cheryl's hearing appointment, so we had many teas, coffees, and cakes to keep up our energy.

This brings us to yesterday, which was an afternoon at Uncle Gerard's (with NO cakes, even though we were promised cakes....his excuse? The cake shop closed 2 years ago.....awwww) in his lovely garden. Then we had to rush home and get ready for the golfing dinner. We were told the attire was smart casual, but good thing we did not listen to them. I wore the same dress I wore for graduation, and Auntie Cheryl wore a very smart outfit that was a black top with stars on it and some nice black pants.

It was a very nice evening, if only we had more money we could have participated in the auction. They had a Bellagio watch worth £8,500 and it sold for £1,600 or something like that....I kept trying to remember Ben's credit card number :) I saw/met Auntie Cheryl's other friends, including Mandy the hairdresser (who asked after Roland) and Sheila. Auntie Cheryl kept trying to ply me with alcohol, even though I had already told her I almost walked into the men's restroom, even though I had been to that golf club only earlier that week....In my defense, they had the door with the men sign already open and so I just walked through it thinking it was a hallway to all the bathrooms....luckily I don't think anyone saw me.

The evening went very well and I think Wirral Witches were able to raise a LOT of money for Clarehouse, which is excellent!

Then today we went to Liverpool with Grandad and had a LOVELY time! First we had some coffee near Liverpool One shopping center. Then, having satisfied the Hummingbird (Grandad), we went to Primark! Grandad sat outside smoking with strict instructions not to wander off. We found a very nice short jacket in a lovely dark olivey colour (as I ended up sending all my jackets to Ben when I repacked my bag because of the weight. Then I remembered that it does get quite cold in the winter, about 30-40s so I would need some cold weather clothes). Then we also found a lovely cotton dress for only £2 and a nice black skirt for £3. All in all, awesome buys!

After Primark we picked Grandad up and walked towards the Metquarter shopping center, where Auntie Cheryl's store is. We met the lovely ladies who work there and Auntie Cheryl got me a graduation cap charm for my sweetie bracelet (I have now, officially, graduated!! yay!). Then we headed upstairs for a lovely lunch and conversation. Of course, as I was pulling out my chair, mine would be the one with gross ketchup on the back....ewwww! Other than that blip, it was a very nice lunch! In case you're wondering, we probably did gossip about you, so there!! haha!

After that we walked around historic parts of Liverpool, including Manchester Ave. where the Beatles began, and Albert's Dock, and the new Echo Center. After all that walking we were quite pooped, especially Grandad, so we headed back in the direction of the car to get some more tea before heading home.

I would say that Nana was glad to see us back, but I think she enjoyed the silence and chance to think...awwwwww.

Greetings from Wales!

2008-09-03T08:11:00.000-07:00

I am pleased to say that I have arrived safe and sound to merry ole' (and wet) Wales. Let me tell you a little bit about my drama-rific journey.

So, Monday morning I woke up and ran some errands (including depositing a check from IIPP so that I won't be broke in Israel). Then I went back to Maro's apartment and repacked, thankful that my bags felt very light! YAY! Then I went to Pizzeria Uno in Georgetown with my friend Patrice and Amanda.

As we're sitting at lunch (which took forever because the waiter was terrible, honestly, we didn't get our drinks for about 20 minutes, by which time we could have expired from heat stroke!) Amanda asks me which airport I'm leaving from. Now, this whole time I thought I was leaving from Reagan, which would be convenient because it's just a couple of metro stops away. However, after putting on my thinking cap (thanks to Amanda) I realized that there was no way I could be catching an INTERNATIONAL flight from Reagan NATIONAL Airport....Who makes an airport only domestic flights ANYWAY?!?

So that meant I would have to leave a little bit earlier than intended, not much of a big deal, I just had to find out when the shuttle to the airport was leaving, as they're usually every 45 minutes and missing the right one could be disastrous. So in comes Ben to the rescue with the bus schedule!! Unfortunately, there was a mix up, because while it was MONDAY and a weekday, it was also Labour Day, a holiday. So it turns out they were operating on their weekend schedule (how you were supposed to know that, I don't know, and what's more, they have a different schedule for Sat and Sun, so how you were supposed to guess which weekend day they were running off of....stupid public transportation).

Anyway, it turns out I missed my bus, but got to say goodbye to my friend Daniel, which is more important. I ended up catching the bus at 4:54 (3 minutes late!) for my 7:10 pm flight, which panicked mom when I told her. However, God was good and the bus just raced along and got us there around 5:30. I had a mini panic attack when I got to the check-in desk because the line looked horrendous, but it turns out the swarm of people were waiting for Ethiopian airlines and Saudi Arabian Airlines....Managed to check in and make it through security with time to spare (even though I was marked for extra security, lucky me! Good thing I decided to leave my radioactive materials at home that day).

The flight was good. As soon as I was in my seat and determined I would not need to do anymore thinking, I took my painkillers for my throat and passed out. I woke up at one point to watch Prince Caspian (because I love that movie), but had a pretty restful journey. Arrived in Dublin at 7:30 am and my flight to Manchester wasn't until 1:45 pm, so I just passed out on this comfy couch thing in the bar area near my gate. Around 11 though the bar opened and people started drinking (way to be a stereotype of yourself Ireland), so I decided I should be awake until it cleared out a bit. They were gone around noonish, so I went back to sleep until 1, when I sat and waited to board.

The flight was a little bit late boarding because they had to refuel the plane (or they were drinking at that bar!), but we made it safe and sound. My bags were literally the 1st and 2nd off the plane, so I grabbed those and went off to be greeted by Auntie Cheryl and Grandad! YAY! The funny thing about this journey is no one has stamped my passport or really entered my information into a machine, so I guess in theory I could stay forever. Very odd. And I was all prepared this time because I wrote down the grandparent's address (in all its confusing welsh).

On the way back we stopped by Uncle Gerrad's to pick up some faiery cakes and have a cup of tea. He was entertaining as always, although I was having a bit of trouble (more than usual) understanding him because my ears were still blocked and he talks so quickly, haha. I met their granddaugher Nikita, who made me some LOVELY cards, awwww, with planes and everything!

Then we came home to see Nana and Hollie- YAY! Spoke to Uncle William and told him I'm looking forward to more Welsh lessons (Nana even managed to track down the Welsh-English dictionary, but I haven't found the pronounciation guide for it yet, so it's still me guessing, very funnily, how to pronounce the words, haha).

Auntie Cheryl has 2 weeks off from work starting on Saturday, which is very exciting! In the meantime, I plan on catching up on some MUCH needed sleep, getting better, finishing up my paperwork for IIPP, and making sure I've submitted everything for Haifa. While I'm here we're going to get my British passport, which is very exciting. I shall try to have a much better picture then my American one, but they're always so confusing while they're taking the picture, "head up" "no smiling" "look left" etc etc....

That's all for now! Good luck to Ben on his first day of class! YAY!

Final Week in DC

2008-08-31T18:58:00.000-07:00

My last few days at work went really well. We got comments for the Wellness module and discovered that we still need to move some things around, however, most of the comments were constructive and the feedback seems manageable.

The GPU team got me a CAKE for my last day! YUM!! A yummy chocolate cake with yummy chocolate icing and chocolate covered strawberries!! I said chocolate 3 times, so you know it's an awesome cake!!

The night before the office had a happy hour for Pat and Alicia. Pat is now going to be the Executive Director at PeaceXPeace, which does work with the women's peace movement in Israel. And Alicia is going to be a ghost writer for this NGO in San Diego that write's biographies of women activists. All very exciting things they are going to be up to! It was also really good to relate to my coworkers in a social environment- who knows, I might work there when I come back.

In other news, I had to move out of my apartment Friday, which was kind of stressful. I realized I still had too much stuff so I packed a box to send to Ben's house in Philadelphia. I googled where the closest post office was and it said only 0.4 miles, and being the industrious, capable woman that I am, I decided to carry it there myself. OF COURSE this post office would have to be the most impossible post office on the face of the planet to find...so here I am, wandering around with a box, close to the point of just giving the damn thing to anyone who walks by. Well, wouldn't you know that two people I passed on my adventure with the box were in the post office when I finally found it. NOW, did they stop me when I walked past it and say, "oh, are you looking for the post office, it's right here." NO, of course not! So I gave them the meanest stink eye possible when I finally made it there....where else would I be going with that box?!

After that I got a taxi to my friend Maro's place in Rosslyn. Saturday I went to the hospital for 2.5 hours (with seeing the doctor taking about 10 minutes) because my tonsils had been swelling and it was finally getting painful to swallow. Turns out I have farengitis, which is similar to strep throat..yay. They gave me some penicillin and some perkacets (wohoo) and the infection should clear up in a couple of days. I feel better already. I spent the rest of Saturday falling asleep and reading this book called "Lipstick Jihad" which is about an Iranian expatriate who grew up in California and returns to Iran in her mid-20s as a journalist and just her experience with dealing with "real" Iran vs. "imagined" Iran of the Iranian diaspora. Pretty interesting read.

Today (Sunday) Maro, Robert (her boyfriend), and I went to the pool. FUN FUN FUN! but hot! We were there for about 2 hours- I did some more reading and sleeping, haha. Then I went over to Daniel's to make tacos and see Patrice (who just moved in there). Of course, Daniel and I forgot that Patrice doesn't eat mammals (funny story about that later), and we only had beef....so that was kind of awkward.

I remember when Patrice first told me she didn't eat mammals, for some reason the first mammal that popped into my head were dolphins, and I was like, "um....I don't eat dolphins either." haha. I guess I never think about cows, pigs, and lamb being mammals as well. Anyway, it was a good night. Tomorrow I just have to repack my bags and make sure they're underweight, then I'll probably meet Daniel and Patrice for coffee or something and then head off to the airport.

Finally, as most of you know, some evil person took our beloved Pookie and Mei Ling from Grandma's backyard on Tuesday. It's cruel and inhumane and a terrible thing to do and I'm really upset about it. However, I have faith that they'll turn up and when they do, I'm going to get those microchips put in the puppies so that we don't have to worry about this again...That's all I can say for now, I know Roland is working really hard, I just wish humans weren't so heartless sometimes.

Dear Smithsonian National Zoo, I Regret to Inform You that All Your Animals Have Escaped

2008-08-26T11:15:00.001-07:00

I went to the Zoo yesterday with a coworker after work (well, we left a little early) and managed not to see ANY animals! No pandas, no lions, no tigers....I guess they were inside, but we went in the late afternoon, when it's actually cooler, so you'd think they'd be outside.

Pretty much the only animal we managed to see consistently were mosquitoes...isn't that a fun trip to the zoo? haha. We did get to see some gorillas and orangutans though. And totally cute otters, so it wasn't too bad.

But to update you all on Vegas. I made it to the airport very early, because you never know with airport security, especially for DC. They took my face wash, like a bunch of losers, because it was 4 oz and you're allowed 3.4 oz.....I guess that extra 0.6 is combustible.....But did they stop me taking in a meatball sub? No. How do they know that was even a sandwich?? I just hate how illogical it all is.

Anyway, my flight was good. Paige came to meet me at the airport. Then we got some coffee and waited for Daniel's flight to get in. We each put a dollar in a slot machine. I promptly lost my mine in like 4 clicks. But Paige kept winning more credits, without knowing how.

Then we collected Daniel and went back to Paige's apartment. It's in a very nice complex. We met the some of her cohort from Teach for America- they're all really awesome. We just stayed up talking that night, because Paige had some training session she had to go to the next morning.

After her training, she came back and Paige and I went to run some errands. Daniel decided to stay home, I think because he had managed to WALK to the strip and was feeling a little heat exhaustion. Anyway, after the errands we went to the Luxor for what we thought would be lunch, but since it was 3:45, they made us get dinner...boo.

It was yummy nonetheless. We only got a plate of dinner food and then went and raided the dessert buffet. I think we took one of everything! YAY!! It was DELICIOUS!!

It was great to just catch up and talk about what we've been up to, etc.

After gorging ourselves we went back to the apartment, when Daniel promptly asked "what are we doing for dinner" hahahaha. Uh....

I began retwisting my hair because we were going out. And some of Paige's friends came over again and then we headed out to Caesar's Palace to go to this club called "Poetry." It was pretty good, and we made it in before the cover. It was fun to go out with Paige again- we always have random people think we're sisters...Not that we look that alike. We just have freckles, so CLEARLY we're related. haha.

Sunday I went with Paige to her school to help her set up her classroom. Even though classes were starting on Monday she didn't get her school supplies and curriculum until SUNDAY!! It's because it was a newly built school and they were still taking all the stuff out of storage. So we were putting away books, putting up posters, etc. Helping Paige set up her classroom and get ready for her 4th graders made me think a lot about elementary school. She had to come up with a classroom management plan, which is basically how are you going to create incentives to get the children to behave. As we were discussing it I started realizing all the management plans my teachers had had. For some reason, they didn't really dawn on me as consciously thought-about programs when I was participating in them. I guess I never really thought about how the teacher came up with them. Funny....

Then Paige had to take us to the airport...sad face. Daniel and I both flew back on JetBlue, and we paid an extra $20 or something to have more legroom, since it was a redeye. Not bad, got a decent amount of sleep. But was still very exhausted come Monday.

Anyway, just trying to wrap up projects at work. My last day is Friday. I haven't started packing yet, which I need to do, but I think I've done a good job of reducing the amount of stuff I'll have to pack (mainly by giving it to ben to take care of it for me :) ).

I was going to go to this "Adele" concert on Wednesday. I found out about it yesterday because I was trying to see if she was going to be performing somewhere close while I was in Wales (since she's from South London) and then lo and behold, I learn she's performing in DC. So I got REALLY excited and told all my friends (including two friends who are OBSESSED with her and are out of town, so can't go)....and then I was checking on the details this afternoon and learned that her concert was CANCELED!!

I'm thinking they didn't sell enough tickets. But that's probably just because they didn't do enough advertising! I mean, I only found out about it randomly....sad face.

Other than that, Ben has moved into his new apartment up in Boston. He's busy doing orientation things and buying furniture, etc. Seems to be enjoying himself, which is good.

Mom and Dad made it Houston, which is also exciting. Dad went to work bright eyed and bushy tailed Monday morning. And apparently Mom had an interesting experience at a "grocery" store (I think it was called "Summy's Groceries" so she thought she could trust it, aww) with wrought iron cages for the store clerk. Other than that, I hope they enjoy their time in Houston and can I just say it is TYPICAL that they come back to the States when I'm heading back in that direction....no love for Summer, haha.

Well, I think that's it for now. Excited to see everyone in Wales! Less than a week!!

Restaurant Week in DC

2008-08-21T18:03:00.000-07:00

So DC has this amazing week called Restaurant week, where you get to go to these fancy-smancy restaurants and order from a set menu for $35.

So Tuesday I went with my friend Daniel to this good seafood restaurant in georgetown. And then Thursday I went with Ben to this AWESOME Spanish restaurant, La Tasca, which had unlimited tapas and a dessert.

SO GOOD! we ate SO much food, it was terrible, but delicious, haha! Ben and I had a fun weekend. Saturday we went to the beach, this place called Sandy Point State Park in Maryland. It was a very sunny day, so it was nice to just relax by the water. The part we were at didn't actually have swimming, you had to be on a different part of the beach, but since I don't swim anyway, no problem.

After the beach we went to Annapolis and poodled around. By that time we were kind of sunned out, so we (by which I mean, I) started getting cranky. All I wanted were crabcakes and despite being right on the water, they were impossible to find. Ben was a very good sport (as always) and found the crabcakes though!

Sunday we went to this place Eastern Market, which is this big bazaar like place in DC- the vendors sell fruit, vegetables, flowers, arts and crafts, clothes, etc. Ben bought a painting for his apartment in Boston, which is very cool.

I haven't even left yet, but I'm thinking when I come back to the States, I'll want to move to Boston, and not just because Ben is there. I just realized a TON of my friends are going to be there too, so if I can find a good job or something, it will be a cool place to hang out for awhile.

I'm really excited to be going to Wales, just over a week. Work is going well. Finishing up my projects, I think they're really happy with my work- yay! Found out today that my boss is going to another organization called Peace by Peace. The organization sounds really cool and actually does some work with the Peace movement in Palestine-Israel, so that's really cool!

Other than that, Daniel and I are off to Vegas tomorrow night to go visit our friend Paige. She does Teach for America out there. Should be a really fun weekend! And Ben moves this weekend to Boston, I think. He has orientation starting Tuesday or something. Fun!

OH, last thing. Turns out, I work with Batman! No joke. There's this guy at the office, sounds exactly like Batman! haha. It was really funny working with him yesterday because we were filling Virtual Bazaar orders and I was asking him where he's from etc. and making up answers in my head. Like, when I asked, "where are you from?" I thought, "GOTHAM CITY" and "what's your masters research on?" "what it's like to be BATMAN!?" hahahaha. I was cracking myself up, which was slightly awkward because to him there was nothing funny going on, hahaha.

Anywho, I think that's it for now. Bye bye!

An Amazing Weekend in Upstate New York and a Not So Amazing time in New York City (all 15 minutes of it)

2008-08-11T14:05:00.000-07:00

Friday morning I left for New York! My bus was at 7:30 Am and I foolishly forgot to print my bus tickets the previous day at work. However, God was good and the bus driver was a very nice little old lady who let me on with just my confirmation number.

I spent most of the trip sleeping or talking with the lady next me, who was on her way to wedding and had never been to NY before. She seemed really nice, if not a little neurotic. Anyway, made to NYC around noonish, with time to grab some water and chips (I had myself a sandwich that morning) and then walk to Grand Central. I spent a good 15 minutes circling around Grand Central trying to figure out how to get in it- I mean, it's a HUGE train station/port thing, you'd think it would have a GRAND ENTRANCE or SIGNAGE, but no....

I finally gave up and went into the Hyatt to ask them and a nice coffee barista man told me how to get there. I then sat in the main forum watching the crowd for a large group of young women, haha. We were supposed to meet by the clock at 1:15 pm, but that could have been anywhere, so like I said, I sat myself down by the wall and waited for an unusually large number of young professional women to start congregating. And sure enough, around 1:00 I spotted what I was sure was my group, however, I continued to sit and wait for another 10 minutes until I was positive.

Having found the group, we took a series of trains to upstate New York (Ancramdale). It was a good journey and I got to meet some of the other attendees on the trip up. When we got to Ancramdale we went to Woodhull's property, which is beautifully located up in the Berkshire mountains! We had an opening ceremony and then DINNER, which was yummy! After dinner we had a session on what ethical leadership means and we formed groups to deal with some ethically questionable scenarios-

1. you're a small, family-owned business in the South and to remain competitive you have to retool. You've finally found a buyer (after a really long search and hemorrhaging lots of money), but during a lunch-dinner meeting (with drinks) you find out the potential buyer is racist and will probably fire all your employees of colour (25% of your workforce), what do you do?

2. You're middle management at a company and your boss tells that you after the completion of a major project, a whole department is going to be laid off. Your friend is in that department and she is in the process of buying a house. No one is supposed to know about the impending layoffs, what do you do?

3. you work at an HIV testing facility and while taking the history of an individual, you put together that this person is currently seeing your best friend. He's not handling the news of his HIV positive status well and in the middle of session exclaims that he doesn't care how many people he infects and storms out. You're supposed to maintain confidentiality- what do you do? (as it turns out, the law helps you in this instance, because of a responsibility to warn- basically, anyone who is normally required to maintain confidentiality i.e. therapist, doctor, person at hiv clinic, can breach that confidentiality if they have a responsible fear that someone is going to be hurt by not informing/breaking confidentiality. I had actually learned about this law from my work with the Center for Relationship Abuse Awareness, because if a batterer reveals in a therapy session that he is going to hurt or kill his partner, that therapist has a duty to warn the partner.)

4. you're taking a final in college and you've all signed the honour code saying you won't cheat and will inform the professor if other's cheat. you see your friend in front of you with notes (cheating) but don't say anything. everyone finishes the test and hands them in when the professor finds the notes and says that if the cheater does not come forward in 24 hours, everyone fails- what do you do?

Anyway, it was a really fun session. The next day we had an optional morning discussion or hike. I had some tea and talked with this awesome lady named Davine about life, positive energy, racism, etc. etc. It was really good. Then we had a session your inner voice (intuition) and your outer voice and presentation (appearance). Then we spent the afternoon working on public speaking. That was an awesome session because everyone had to come up with a speech, in about 5 minutes, where they are running for President. In that speech you had to list 3 accomplishments and describe the qualities those accomplishments demonstrate.

It was so much fun to hear that great things everyone had done and it was really valuable to get feedback on my presentation skills. It was also beneficial to learn how to articulate your accomplishments to their full degree but without bragging. So many times you don't want to seem like you're bragging, so you kind of rush over what you've done. So it was good to get feedback on how to own your accomplishments and to present them unapologetically! yay!

I said my three accomplishments were 1) receiving a nationally competitive scholarship from the Dept of Education in Public Policy 2) Graduating from Stanford and 3) receiving a fellowship to study abroad in Israel for one year.

Based on feedback, I re-articulated these accomplishments as- 1) being awarded one of 21 fellowships in Public Policy from the Dept of Education 2) Graduating from Stanford and 3) being awarded one of two fellowships for a self-designed project examining the women's peace movement in Israel for one year. (sounds better, right?)

Then that evening we watched this movie "Working Girl" from the 80s with Melanie Griffith. It was pretty good, we spent most of the movie making fun of the clothes, etc. haha.

Sunday morning everyone was tired so no one went on a hike (haha) and we started the morning with a negotiation simulation. I thought that piece was really valuable as well, because most of the women attending were working for non-profits and they talked about how hard it was to renegotiate salaries or to ask for more benefits because they feel like being underpaid and overworked is part of working for a non-profit. Our facilitator, Wende, had an awesome response and reminded everyone that your employer is probably banking on you having that belief. If you can show WHY you deserve a raise or increased benefits, your company will make some sort of an effort to accommodate you. They can't always give you tons of money, but they could help with fringe benefits, like setting aside $2000/year for professional development, or letting you come in later because you have to take your children to school, or leave earlier, or have more vacation time, etc. etc.

Then we had financial literacy, which I thought was really good too. I had some trouble relating to the session because I don't feel like I'm at that point in my life yet, for some reason, I don't really see the money that I have as mine or real, or capable of investing, because really, I get it to go to school, or for a specific trip. I would feel bad taking money from my trip to Israel and investing it....So, it was valuable to be exposed to those ideas, but I just don't see how to apply those skills yet.

And then we had to leave....sad face. The good news is that as Alumnae, we can use the facilities whenever we want- to write, paint, create, etc. And the women I met there were all SO awesome, it's a good network and an inspiring group. I'm really glad I got the opportunity to go.

So...that was the GOOD part of the trip....The BAD part was when I made it back to NYC and tried to get on the bus (again without a printed ticket because I still didn't have access to a printer). I showed the person my confirmation number and he very snootily said, "that's not the code for today. no." and I was like, "um...are you sure? because I know I bought a ticket." and he asks for my ID and gets the driver to call it in. I'm just standing there, positive that there is some misunderstanding, because I KNOW i bought a ticket. While the bus driver is phoning it in, I call Ben and ask him to look in my email for the confirmation.

dum dum dum....as it turns out, the return ticket was for August 24th!! I have NO idea why! I would never pick that date. I'm supposed to be in Vegas that weekend, so it was clearly a mistake. However, because New Yorkers are SO used to dealing with the dregs of humanity, they automatically assume you've intentionally tried to deceive them. So the bus driver starts gossiping with the rude guy saying, "wow, I thought she was telling the truth. she seemed so confident" blah blah blah. Like I would WASTE my time trying to scam a bus company anyway!! So I tell the snooty man that the ticket was for the 24th, to which he snidely replies, "yeah, well today is the 10th." and I just smile and say, "Thank you. I am painfully aware of that fact. Is it possible to switch that ticket to today? I have no use for a bus ticket from NYC to DC on the 24th, I won't even be in NYC on the 24th." and he just goes "no." So I have to buy ANOTHER ticket. No worries, Ben wrote an email to bolt bus for me asking for a refund of the 24th ticket.

I was just annoyed that they would think I would intentionally lie to them. it's like, wow, I'm sorry that that's how your life has worked out so far, but I would never compromise my integrity over something so stupid as a bus ticket....

Anyway, as I'm sitting on the bus talking to Ben the bus driver decides that you're not supposed to use your cell phones on a bus ride. Even though everyone on the bus is talking (granted, to the person next to them, but it's not like people are trying to sleep or something) and makes an announcement that on Bolt Bus, we whisper. I wasn't talking loud, I think it was just because I was two rows back and he could see me in his rear view mirror. Well, I continue to talk, quietly, to Ben, as we have not been able to talk to each for 10 days because he's been up in the wilderness of Maine! Throughout the conversation, I can see out of the corner of my eye the USELESS bus driver making comments about me and then he tries to mime into the rear view mirror for me to get off. Finally I acknowledge him and tell Ben, "hang on, the Bus Driver is trying to mime to me to get off the phone..." and then Ben says, "oh ok, so when can we talk again." HOWEVER, because I did not IMMEDIATELY hang up the phone upon getting this mimed message, the Bus driver makes a snide remark about how "oh, she is just going to keep on talking, well I'll pull over the bus" to which I reply, " HANG ON, jeez! I'm not about to hang up on someone mid sentence just because you tell me to get off the phone. I am saying goodbye and then I will hang up. don't worry!" He again makes some comment about everyone on the bus looking at me, so I turn around, and see everyone carrying on in their conversations...

Then I say goodbye to Ben and that's it. Like I said, I think he was so annoyed because I two rows back and visible in his rear view mirror. I mean, I could people from the back of the bus talking, again granted it was to each other, but they CERTAINLY were making more noise than I was. Anyway, that was the ride from hell because then it started to rain really bad, we ran into traffic, we ran into traffic from construction zones, etc. We were supposed to arrive at 9:30 and didn't get back till 11:30......

SO, other than actual New York City, my trip to New York was a lot of fun!

Oh YEAH, I forgot to explain free food day!

2008-08-06T17:48:00.000-07:00

Today at work was like Free Food day.

First of all there was extra breakfast food from a meeting- so i had a yummy garlic and sesame seed bagel with some fruit.

Then someone brought in indian food- so I had chicken curry and rice.

And then there was cake for the sponsorship interns who are leaving this week- so I had some vanilla cake with chocolate ice cream!

See, FREE FOOD DAY! There was also actually some sandwich wraps, but I decided not to eat that because I knew I was going to make shepherd's pie tonight and needed an appetite.

I no longer have a window at work...but it was free food day!!

2008-08-06T17:35:00.000-07:00

I had to move my stuff to a different cubicle because a new hire in the income generation department (well, really she was working in sponsorship before) moved to that spot. So I don't have a window anymore, boo! And now I realize what a treasure it was because I'm feeling kind of isolated and I think I get tired faster....oh well.

Let's see...my other friends birthday (sat. night) was fun. We went out for drinks in Adams Morgan, which was ok, but then spent the rest of the night at this cafe called "Queen's cafe" smoking sheesha and drinking tea. That was way more fun. I learned what happens if you don't go out with your mantourage (haha, i.e. all the guy friends I usually go out with). I was at the bar with Olan (the birthday girl) and this guy goes, "so we're trying to decide..." and I was like, "um...who are you?" and walked away. It's like, really?? really, really? Just leave me alone. Thanks! I was laughing with Olan that I never realized Daniel was such an imposing force before, but I guess he is really tall, has tatoos, was in the Army, etc. haha.

Sunday I went to go see the new Mummy movie. It was pretty good. Had a couple more inappropriate comments than usual, which was kind of annoying, but otherwise I thought it was funny.

Monday at work was spent writing the glossary for the wellness module and finding pictures for the toolkit- stages of pregnancy, anatomy, etc. A lot of surfing middle school sex ed websites, haha, because that language and material would be at the right level for the program participants. Things are moving along with the module, just been working on those materials the last two days. The glossary is probably the most tedious part, but thankfully we can cut out a lot of the obvious words (that we would have defined in the sustaining an income module), so that should be easier.

Friday morning I'm leaving for New York to go to the Woodhull Institute's Young Women's Ethical Leadership Retreat. I hope it's fun. Whenever I tell my friends that I'm going to NY this weekend, they get all excited and I have to be like, "No no, not New York City, but New York, New York. Like up in the mountains and wilderness New York." haha. I'm hoping it will be restful and relaxing because I've been SO tired lately! I know in the mornings before the sessions they have hikes and yoga planned, so I'm excited. I wish I could make time to do yoga here, because my neck is really starting to hurt me, but I don't know where I'd fit it in. I'll just have to do it in Israel I guess...

Made some yummy shepherd's pie for dinner tonight, yay! I tried to get Daniel to come over for dinner (especially since I made so MUCH shepherd's pie) but he is biased against English food and wasn't interested- foolish! So i've frozen the leftovers and put some aside to take for lunch tomorrow.

Ok, I think that's all for now!

Walking in the Rain!!

2008-08-02T14:36:00.000-07:00

We finally finished the Sustaining an Income Module!! YAY for us! It was really busy Friday- incorporating last minute edits, making sure the instructions to the trainer made sense, making sure the language was consistent. But it was SO gratifying when we finished it. The toolkit looks amazing and I think the trainers are going to have fun using the materials.

Then we had a birthday party for my friend LaSean and it was good to see everyone. Most people are finishing their internships in the next 2 weeks or so, which is sad because then what will I do for fun??

Today I made a HUGE breakfast with Tabari and LaSean- we made hashbrowns, omelettes, biscuits, sausage..DELICIOUS!! And then I went to the pool with Larina and Meaghan. It was pretty fun, but it started to get cloudy towards the end and then it started to rain.

I decided to walk back in the rain because I was already wet from the pool and it was warm outside. I just put a towel on my head so that my hair didn't get wet, haha. I'm supposed to go out again tonight for ANOTHER friend's birthday, but I'm feeling SO tired. I'll probably just stop in for a little bit. My other exciting plans for the evening are going to the Nationals game or a bbq...decisions, decisions.

I play soccer barefoot!

2008-07-30T20:13:00.000-07:00

So I have quite a bit to catch everyone up on.

On Thursday night Ben and I made a DELICIOUS dinner (well, mostly me) and then met friends for drinks. After work on Friday we took the metro out to the Univ. of Maryland- College Park for the annual current MLI vs. Alum match.

It was really fun. I played barefoot (of course, because without cleats I slip around too much). Everyone was supposedly "worried" about stepping on my feet- if only the showed the same concern when kicking me in the thigh, haha. It doesn't actually hurt to play barefoot because no one would be on your foot long to cause any damage, even if they step on your foot it's only for a second.

Anyway, we WON the game 5-3 or something like that, but it dragged on for FOREVER and the losing team shouted out something like, "next goal wins it" (although at this point we were ahead 5-2) and of course they score a goal and start cheering like they won....right....

I don't know if the alums are destined to not like the current students and vice versa, because I found myself very annoyed by some of them. Of course, that could have been because some of them were saying annoying things like, "our player against anyone on your team will always win" or "our defense is amazing, it confuses them" when we were totally beating them....Not to mention I thought the guys on the team were patronizing and were in desperate need of some feminist schooling.

Like one of them came against me and was all worried about stepping on my foot, to which I replied, "Listen, if I got hurt THAT easily, I wouldn't be playing barefoot. You don't have to worry about me, I'm a 22 year old grown woman." Or they'd barely bump into me and be like "are you ok? are you sure you're ok? you're not hurt?" I am not made of glass, I'll be fine!

Anyway. Then on Saturday Ben and I went shopping and it was GLORIOUS!! There was a sale on shoes at Nordstrom's, so I got these TOTALLY awesome PINK pumps!! SO CUTE!! And I got a really cute suit from United Colors Bennetton, that was $150 off!!

Sunday we went to the National Gallery of Art to go to the Afghanistan exhibit. Basically starting in the 1980s, the curator of the Afghanistan museum starting hiding away national treasures in the Presidential palace to protect the artifacts from war, the Soviets, and the Taliban. There was some awesome stuff in the exhibit.

After the exhibit we went to dinner in Chinatown to this Portuguese restaurant called "Nando's" and then went to go see "Dark Knight." I thought the movie was really good, but disturbing. I was surprised it was only PG-13, but when you think about it, there isn't that much blood or violence, it's just psychologically and morally disturbing and I think it deals with some very adult concepts. I was so disturbed during the movie Ben had to keep telling me, "it's ok, it's not real" haha.

Then Ben left to return to Philly Monday morning and I went to work. Work has been SO busy lately! We are really trying to finish this toolkit up so I've been in the office until 6:30 pm sometimes! I think we could get a lot more done if we didn't keep having tangential conversations- I just wish they would give me the edits so I could do them and then finish the project, instead of talking to me about WHY we need the edits, and WHAT the edits mean, and HOW it's all part of the bigger picture, and HOW other people in the office miss the bigger picture....It's like, "I get it! But I don't want to be here forever, I do have a life." haha.

I've never been one to tolerate dilly-dallers. Which makes for intersting metro rides. You'd think some people had nowhere to be and just wanted to make taking the metro their activity for the day....They walk slow, the block the escalator, they pfaff around in front of the gates....It's like, "PEOPLE, you're killing me here!" Everytime I see people just standing on the escalator I think of Ellen DeGeneres piece from her HBO special "Here and Now" where she wonders how those people would get around if they didn't have a machine to actually MOVE for them, hahaha.

OH, I went to help my friend Daniel clean his apartment yesterday, because he's moving out of their and into his new home. I was in charge of cleaning the carpets and the resident expert on stains because of all the MILLIONS of products we've used on the carpets in Sedona. I think we actually managed to get the stains out, which is good because now Daniel can get his deposit back.

Well, I think that's it for now. I can't believe July is almost over!!

Tour of the West Wing

2008-07-26T09:12:00.000-07:00

The tour of the west wing (in the White House for my British relatives who may be confused :) ) was pretty fun. It was set up by Stanford in Washington, so the other people visiting were Stanford students too- mostly current students but some Alum as well. I pretty much only spoke to Alum because for some reason I find current students really annoying these days, haha.

We got to speak with Joshua Bolten as well (White House Chief of Staff) and he told us about what he does (coordinates the President's schedule etc) and then people asked him questions. One question was, "What is the biggest misconception people have of the President?" So Bolten spoke about how most people don't think the President is intelligent and that, in reality, he loves reading and read something like 92 books this last year (he was in a competition with Karl Rove)....

I have mixed feelings about that statement, because I just don't see how it can be true. I believe (and most other people do) that with reading you not only improve your vocabulary, but your ability to form concise sentences and speak publicly....and YET, for someone who has read 92 books in this past year alone (supposedly), he can't really put two words together intelligently....So I'm skeptical of that statement. Especially since Bush supposedly loves to read non-fiction, like History books....

I got the contact info of our tour guide so that I can try and set up a tour of the East wing next- she said those are actually easier to get.

After the tour I met BEN (yay!) and we had an awesome dinner (prepared by MOI!). I made pork chops, mashed potatoes (as in I actually mashed them, added green onions and garlic, yum!), a brown rice with yummy spices (that I also added) and steamed broccoli. Very delicious and healthy!

Today Ben and I are going shopping! We're heading to Pentagon City to go to the Mall and then there are some nice boutiques around there also. Should be a fun day!

Kidnapping is Harder than You'd Think....

2008-07-23T17:40:00.000-07:00

I had QUITE an interesting day at work today. The country director for the Afghanistan office is visiting and she has 2 young children (9 and I think 2 years old). They were in the office earlier this morning, but then for some reason she took them back to the hotel. She had to go do some paperwork for her visa, but wanted the children to be brought back to the office. Alicia was supposed to go get them (as she knows the children and the mom...) but had to do an interview for our Program Assistant position, so she asked me to go.....

Well, I make my way to the hotel, already thinking this is going to be HORRIBLE because I thought, "there's no way these children are going to come with me...they don't know me..." even though I had seen them that morning, I don't know how little kids memories work (haha).

Anyway, I get to the hotel and to use the elevator you have to use your room key. But for some reason, these keys were not scanning, so I go to the front desk to tell them that the keys don't work....And they're like, "OK, what's the name?" To which I reply, "well...the first name is Sweeta, and I don't know what the last name is." "Are you staying in this hotel??" "Uh....no. [this is when I start to realize that this is NOT going to work...] See, I work across the street, and our country director had to go do some paperwork, so she wanted the children to be brought back to the office, so I'm just coming to pick up the kids and take them across the street." "Are you the babysitter?" "Uh...no...." "Do you have ID??" "Uh....no....." "What's your name?" at which point I go, "OK, I know, this has sketch written all over it. And honestly, I wouldn't let me pick up the children either. But they're up there by themselves and they told me to just come over and pick them up, so that's what I'm doing...."

Then the manager comes out, hears the story, and proceeds to lecture ME on leaving children alone in a hotel room....like these are MY kids or something.... Anyway, I have to call the office, get the receptionist to interrupt Alicia's interview so that she can tell the hotel people that I am NOT a baby napper....

Well I finally make it upstairs, and the children were fine. The brother was very good and got his sister ready to go in about 5-10 minutes. It reminded me of what it must have been like when Roland took care of us. He's a good brother (both Roland and the child this afternoon).

THEN we start our adventure across the street, with me pushing the stroller with a panicked look on my face- in case she somehow falls out, the stroller breaks, or who knows what. I spend about the whole journey hoping they don't have an emergency (keep in mind it's like 2 minutes back to the office), so by the time I get there, I have this exhausted look on my (both because I was seconds away from being accused of stealing children and because I don't know how to handle children).

So yeah, a pretty entertaining day, that's for sure!

Then I went to the Apple store for over 2 HOURS to try and get my computer fixed...but according to them there's nothing wrong with it. I think it's related to the fact that my 3 year warranty is up in about 3 weeks, so they're trying to get by without fixing anything. I'll try the phone people later this week, because the last time I had a problem with my computer we ran a different test then they did today, and with that other test they actually found a problem....so, yeah.

Other than that, work is going well. I can't believe I only have a month left! Time flies! It's been all hands to the pump to finally finish the Income Generation Module...I'll be so glad when we move to the next module because I am getting tired of reading the same text, haha.

Ben is coming down to visit tomorrow- yay! And I get to go on a tour of the West Wing- double yay!

It's Harder to Blog without a Computer...

2008-07-20T12:12:00.000-07:00

I finally got my computer back from the Apple store...unfortunately no new macbook, but it does look they replaced the keyboard and everything...Of course, they left me with a CRAPPY battery, so I'm going back tomorrow to make sure I get a new battery, charger, software, etc. because if I'm stuck with this computer for the long haul, I want to make sure it's in full working order.

Anyway, I guess a few things have happened since I last blogged. Work has been going really well. The outside consultant we hired to help us with the manual revision has been in town this last week and leaves next week- so it's been all hands to the pump! I had to cut down the definitions I gave for the glossary, got to sit in on a couple of meetings. Including one meeting where we were supposed to be articulating the objectives and outcomes for the module and each session, as in- In session 1.1 Reproductive Health: Women will learn the anatomy and physiology of the male and female reproductive system. We started out really well, but by the end we were just sort of spitting out ideas, so I kept trying to keep us on track and be like, "so, you want to articulate that idea, how?" hahahah.

One day was kind of tedious, but I felt oddly accomplished after I completed the task. So I was supposed to create a storyboard for the household budget story Nina created, because some of the women are illiterate, so a pictograph story would go with the words. Anyway, that involved copying the pictures and shrinking them down to fit 6 panels on a page. But the "funniest" part was having to create pictures by putting two or more pictures together- for example, we wanted to have a picture of Naseem (the character from the story) sitting at a desk with a planner and money box, to show that she was thinking about her budget. But the money box was a separate picture, so I had to shrink it down and put it in the picture with the desk....I know, hardly worth 4 years of college education, but I was oddly proud of myself when I finished it, because it totally looked like the box was originally in the picture, hahahahahahaha.

*Thank goodness for autosave, my web browser just crashed and I thought I was going to have to retype this!! *

This last Friday IIPP had it's annual reception in DC. It's always a good time because you get to meet the newest cohort (Cohort 14, 32 people!), catch up with the cohort in Maryland (13, I think only 30 people), see other people from your own cohort (that's me, cohort 12, only 21 people!), and meet people who now work in DC from really old cohorts (there was someone from cohort 1 there!)

Anthony came down from Middlebury, where he's studying chinese, to come down for the reception. And Sydney, who's the advisor the newest cohort, came up too. It was great to see everyone. It's was also funny meeting the newest cohort because they were kind of intense. They'd be like, "so you're from cohort 12? Where are you going to graduate school???" hahaha. But yeah, a fun weekend all around. I wish more people from my cohort could have been there but they're all doing awesome things elsewhere....

Ben got back from Chile this weekend, haven't seen pictures of his trip yet, but apparently he had a really good time, which is good. He'll probably be coming down to DC this Thursday, yay!

I can't believe how quickly time has gone by- I only 1.5 months left!! I kind of wish I was staying in DC because I'm having SO much fun, but I know that I will have even more fun in Israel and that this will be a really important opportunity for my professional and personal development.

I'm looking forward to seeing everyone in Wales beforehand. And i'm excited for my whirlwind 24 hours in Athens! haha, I should start planning/figuring out how to get around/what I'm going to see. Hopefully it will work out.

No developments on volunteering, which is frustrating. But I only 1.5 months now, so there's no point. Silly organization! Oh well....

I think that's all for now, I will have to think about I've been doing for the last 11 days, haha.

I Feel So Productive Today!!

2008-07-09T18:04:00.000-07:00

Although I don't quite know what I've been producing, haha.

I FINALLY called AppleCare and now have an appointment to have my computer looked at tomorrow. Hopefully we'll figure out to fix it.

I looked for a replacement hair twister and found one on eBay, hopefully won't be too long until it gets here.

I looked up bus tickets to NY so that I can get to that retreat. I asked around the office and there are a couple of bus lines that are really timely, so it should be ok.

I wrote down my flight information in my planner and have been scheduling the rest of my time here.

I've been looking online to find places to volunteer during my free time. I was originally going to get a part-time job, at like a bookstore or something, but no luck there. A quick search on the internet revealed that I live not far from some DV services, so I sent out emails to them- hopefully will hear back tomorrow, but who knows... It seems people in DC don't volunteer, because even the most vague search on Idealist.org barely returns any results....boooo.

Let's see, heard from ben and he has made it safely to Chile and is on his way to some slopes with Brinty. yay!

Cooking!!

2008-07-08T17:33:00.000-07:00

YAY! My groceries came today! I ordered them online from Safeway. Pretty convenient, especially since DC isn't very car friendly and there aren't many big grocery stores (stupid small business....hahaha).

Anyway, so I got to cook my dinner! *although I did do cooking with Daniel, but this time I had the kitchen to myself. So I had some Alaskan Pollack, long grain wild rice, and red potatoes with garlic and chives, yum yum!!

Work was pretty good. I'm now working on the glossary for the Wellness module. Learned more than one would ever want to know about pregnancy, afterbirth, stds, and diseases....yucky!

And I got to do some postage- filling orders for people who order from our Virtual Bazaar (you should check it out and then know that I have personally mailed it to you, isn't that nice!). Quite funny that I do mailing, since I HATE going to the post office and don't really understand it.

In other news, I'm trying to find a good way to get to NY for the Woodhull Institute's Young Women's Leadership Retreat. Train tickets are OUTRAGEOUS!! $190 roundtrip!! Isn't that crazy! I think I'll probably take the chinatown bus down the night before, but I need somewhere to stay....anyone?? haha.

I don't understand why train travel isn't more affordable in the states. I think trains are the best part about being abroad- they're so much more comfortable than planes- you can get up whenever you want, etc.

Oh well, perhaps time for ironing...

On the Road Again...

2008-07-07T17:05:00.000-07:00

I've moved into my new place on Logan circle (just a short walk up the block from where I was staying with Daniel). I haven't unpacked or anything like that yet, it's so hot you need like 45 minutes to cool off after a 10 minute walk, haha.

Anyway, this last weekend was really fun. HAPPY 4th of JULY!! I took the Chinatown bus up to Philadelphia. I probably should have forked over the extra cash to take the train so that I could avoid traffic, but the bus wasn't uncomfortable or anything, it just took us 4 hours!

When I got there I was greeted by Ben and his parents, and since I was STARVING we went to this awesome Chinese restaurant called Dim Sum Garden and ordered a TON of food. It was all very yummy, except for the last two dishes we ordered on a recommendation from the waitress (worst idea ever), those were kind of gross. haha.

Next day I put on my swimsuit because I was determined the sun was going to come out- it did not, but I was vigil all day in case any ray of sunshine happened upon the backyard.

We took the dogs and the miniature pony for a walk (I know, funny sight). OH, and I tried fishing. I kept getting fish on my line, but didn't know how to then CATCH them, so that was kind of frustrating. But it was a fun experience overall.

Since the weather decided to be a bunch of communists and rain on the 4th, there were no fireworks or bbqs, booooo....

Ben's sister Jane and her boyfriend Josh came down the next day and the sun was shining, so we played in the pool (always above water because I do not like to get my hair wet :) ) Ben's dad did some bbq chicken which was yummy and then we went to go watch fireworks.

I've never been too impressed with fireworks, I think they're too loud and I don't really understand the appeal. It was a good show as far as they go however.

On Sunday we were glued to the TV watching Wimbledon (myself even more so once I learned that Nadal is from Mallorca!! 1986 was a good year for the island, hahahaha!) We had to leave for the city part way through however, because I had to catch the bus back to DC. It didn't matter though because of all the rain delays.

Ben helped me with my bag to the bus and we made it just in time to get poured on with rain. Boarding was moving a little slow so I was quite wet by the time I made it on. The ride back was much faster this time though so it wasn't bad.

Work was kind of slow today because we're still waiting for final comments on the "Sustaining an Income" module, which is practically done, so I'm kind of inbetween tasks. We have more exciting meetings to look forward to, yay, haha.

Ben left for Chile yesterday, connecting through Toronto. Unfortunately, his plane from PA arrived just in time to miss the connection so he has been spending the day in Toronto (luckily they gave him a hotel, which is nice). He should be leaving tonight and arriving tommorrow morning. Apparently Santiago is the same time zone as DC, so hopefully I will be getting some exciting emails from him with pictures of the snow, etc.

OK well, I think I will go and unpack some of my things (shock horror!!). Bye bye for now!

Daniel Rogers is AWESOME

2008-07-02T19:48:00.001-07:00

I can't believe I didn't post this before, but my friend Daniel, is the most awesome person in the world.

He has not only let me stay with him since I got here, but we've had an awesome time cooking, going to happy hours, and touring dc.

YAY Daniel!

ok, SERIOUSLY Microsoft

2008-07-02T19:26:00.000-07:00

So, this is kind of a continuation of yesterday's post, but as I looking through clip art again, I couldn't help but be amused by it all.

I decided to look for farming pictures to depict teamwork and making an equal contribution, etc. etc. Now, keep in mind that women do 80 PERCENT of the world's agriculture...so, out of 58 PAGES worth of pictures on farming, how many had women in them??

well, there were FIVE PICTURES! Not five pages, five PICTURES. that's right...and most looked like the chiquita bonita banana lady....

OMG Microsoft, please join us in the 21 century!!

Other than that, work was good. I sat through an 1.5 hour meeting; it was mildly interesting, but the best part was when the lady from South Africa spoke about her work. I just LOVE south African (Afrikaaner) accents, they crack me up with the way they say their "R"s and everything.

Anywho, I need to pack because tomorrow I'm going to PA to visit ben and lounge in a pool, yay!!

Clip Art is Sexist!!

2008-07-01T13:06:00.000-07:00

So, I was looking for some clipart to put in the non-literate form of the success characteristics checklist (like I was talking about before) and if you type in "problem solving" it's literally a bunch of men holding wrenches....

If you type in cooperation, it's a guy who looks like a boss leaning over a woman at a desk, who looks like a secretary....

Not to mention they're aren't many "diverse" people in the clipart, I saw another cooperation clip that had a white guy standing in FRONT of the computer, and then a woman, what looks like an asian guy, and a black guy standing around him.....

oh microsoft....

Oh yeah, and if you type in "equality" they have....TWO pictures...that's right. One is a white hand and a black hand high-fiving, and the other doesn't even make sense, it looks like shoes or two ink blots that are identical.....

Nice....

I HAVE a Place to LIVE!!

2008-06-30T17:23:00.000-07:00

Yay me!! No need to worry about me peddling my "real, genuine fake" handbags on the streets anymore. So the place is around the corner from where I'm staying now (with my friend Daniel), which hopefully will make moving easier.

Trying to find a place to live has been an interesting experience; a lot of almost places and then someone else took them...I don't know if that means I should be more decisive or what. But oh well...

Here's some pictures of where I'm staying- it's furnished now, but to get an idea of the layout.

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AZNWjRq4bMWL2g&emid=sharview&linkid=link4

Anyway, WORK.

Work is going awesome! It's easy for that to happen when you only 5 hours a day (except for Thursday, which is all day). Anyway, I FINALLY finished the glossary. It was a little tedious towards the end because I saved all the obvious words like "responsibility" or "value" till the end, but with the help of dictionary.com I was able to motor through them. (Not that I don't know the definition myself, but have you ever tried to define an obvious word? Not that easy, not that easy). Also, sometimes they actually USE the WORD in the definition!! How is that allowed??

Like, "responsibility" being responsible for someone or something...um...that doesn't help if you don't know what responsible means....stupid dictionary....

So after finishing the glossary, I started making the handouts for the trainer to use in the module. I'm up to an interesting task of creating a non-literate version of the "Successful Characteristics of an Entrepreneur" handout....

How do you use pictures to symbolize something like, "has a business plan" or a "product that is competitive in the local market"?? I was doing pretty well with "has a passion for work" or "self-confidence," but I shall have to put my little grey cells to work on illustrating the harder ones.

We had an office happy hour last Thursday. I got to meet the other interns and get to know the other people in the office. They're all SO nice! I really like being in an environment with people who are 25-35 and doing good work, making a difference, etc.

Ben came down this weekend. We were helping his grandma go through her stuff before she moves to LeisureWorld, or something like that. We went out with the IIPP/MLI gang Friday night, but Saturday we just stayed at his grandma's and watched "Lust, Caution." I can see why the critics and everyone liked it, but I have mixed feelings (including finding one part HILARIOUS that wasn't really supposed to be.....).

Anyway, other than that...going to Philly this weekend for 4th of July and POOLTIME! YAY!!

Will update more later, this post is already pretty long....

First Day

2008-06-23T15:59:00.000-07:00

So today was my first day at Women for Women International. I got there around 10:15, after having turned left out of the metro when I was supposed to go right...oh well, live and learn. Other than that, I think I did a good job with public transportation!

When I got there, I finally got to meet Nana, who I've been talking to on the phone and over email for about a month and a half now. She is really nice. I got to see where I'll be working. The whole office space is HUGE, but I'm in one corner of the building. I have my own computer, log in name, and I even have a WINDOW! There are about 4 of us working on the manual in that section of the office. Everyone seems very nice and personable.

Nana walked me through what the project is and what I'll be working on. I have some material to read!

Anyway, after about an hour, that was it so I called Ben to let him know how it went, then spent the day at the National Mall! I felt very DC-y, even though people from DC probably don't do tourist stuff like that. But it seems cool to be able to see National monuments and stuff whenever you want.

So I ambled around that Natural History Museum, learned about Masosaurs, with their paddle-like fins. Very exciting! Then I went to this restaurant that serves Mexican food. It's near the Capitol and I remembered going there last summer so I found the place on memory. It was a bit of a walk...

After that I went to the American Indian museum. But was kind of pooped so only made it through 2 of the floors. Saw a really cool exhibit on Women's Dresses and how the styles and materials have changed, and what the colours mean, etc.

Then it was just a quick trip to CVS and back to the apartment. I'm staying with my friend Daniel for this week (He works at the State Dept) and then next week I'll be moving out to Glenmont, which is the end of the red line.

So, Day One in DC was all and all pretty good, but my feet are pretty tired :)

How Exciting!

2008-06-22T20:13:00.000-07:00

I've never blogged before, but it seemed like the "in" thing to do. And it makes sense and saves me from having to write emails all the time.

So, hopefully, this will become a resource for staying updated on my adventures in DC and Israel.

awesome! weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!